


lovely bitter water

by illinoise



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Fantasy, M/M, Pirate!Jack, Very AU, a medieval mess, and some monster fighting, crutchie just wants seashells :(, davey is really oblivious help him, fairy!davey, kath is a badass, princess!sniper, spot race and smalls are the ultimate gang of bandits, theres a lot of fairy dust, wizard!kath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-10 23:28:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13511997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illinoise/pseuds/illinoise
Summary: "I thought fairies were girls," Jack said."And I thought pirates were smart," Davey deadpanned. "I guess we were both wrong."(Or a fairy has to find true love for a pirate and has no idea where to start.)





	1. Chapter 1

The spray of the waves, the scent of salt water, the slow dipping motion of the deck--every pirate loved sailing.

Every pirate except Jack Kelly, anyway. Because if you were Jack Kelly, you were bent over the rail vomiting.

Some days, he could keep down breakfast despite the rocking of the ship on open sea. Today was not one of those days. He had holed himself up below deck--he tried his hardest to hide these spells of sickness--and when that only made him worse, he went for fresh air.

He felt a hand clap his back and jolted. “Hey, Jack,” a voice said somewhere behind him. “You alright?”

It was Crutchie, a fellow pirate nicknamed for the crutch he used to balance himself due to a non-functioning leg. He often talked about wanting a peg leg, claiming it was more "pirate like."

Jack held up a hand behind him until he was certain he was finished. He lifted himself from the haze of it, flushed. "Peachy,” he muttered, spitting into the water below them. Crutchie laughed. He was the only one who knew the fatal, ironic secret of the pirate who suffered seasickness.

Jack’s head spun. “Shouldn’t you be plotting villages to raid or something?”

Crutchie, to his credit, took the rebuke with grace. He knew Jack, and he knew that illness made him even more insufferable than usual. “Got bored of the pirate talk. You tried resting below deck?”

Jack scowled. “D’you think I’d be up here if I hadn’t? I’m not a moron.”

“Nah,” Crutchie said, grinning. “Of course not.”

“You’re not funny.” Jack started back toward his cabin, hoping to at least sleep it off. Crutchie followed at a safe distance, out of punching range. He stuck around Jack faithfully. because they could bond over one thing: neither of them were cut out to be pirates.

Kelly would deny it to the grave, but Crutchie wasn’t ashamed to say that he couldn’t stomach the pillage and plunder. The others made allowances for him because his father had been the ship’s captain before his passing. He had no other family and thus nowhere else to go but this ship. Everyone left him alone.

Jack was different. He threw back his shoulders and wielded a blade and he knew what to say. He didn’t have anywhere else to be, either. The pirates gave him what he hadn’t had as an orphan--shelter, clothing, glory.

It wasn’t that he hated the violence; it was that it didn’t fulfill him. His brutal crew thought it was their life purpose to gut townsfolk--Jack was left with a constant, vague knowledge that he wanted more out of life.

He threw himself onto his hard bunk and held out a hand. Crutchie, with a best friend’s telepathy, passed him a bucket which he promptly began to retch into.

When he looked up again, he realized Crutchie was laughing.

“What?” he snapped.

“You make the funniest noises.” He imitated, coughing and gagging.

“Whaddya want me to do, sing?” Jack wiped his mouth. “Let me sleep, won’t you?”

Obediently, Crutchie started back up to the deck. “I’ll check on you later, darling!”

-

Jack was startled from slumber by a thing he could not yet identify. Bleary-eyed and realizing his stomach was at last calmed, he lifted his head off his hard pillow. Moments ticked past. He became aware of a strange tinkling sound, almost like the sound of sparks hitting rock.

And then, in a flash of pale blue light, the silhouette of a person became clear across the room.

Jack stiffened and blinked rapidly to ensure he wasn’t dreaming. But no, there the person was, real as anything. He reached over beside him (where he had learned to always keep a weapon) and snatched up his sword.

Doing the only sensible thing his exhausted mind could think of, he leapt to his feet, screeched out a battle cry, and charged the figure with his blade pointed.

They collided hard. Jack heard a stunned gasp as he took the person down. When they hit the wood floor, both of them grunted. Jack scrambled to draw his sword against his adversary’s throat, restraining their legs with his weight.

“Show yourself,” he shouted, manhandling the person under him until he could see their face. When he did, he recoiled; a boy stared up at him from the floor with panicked eyes and ruffled hair, a boy probably no older than Jack himself.

Jack gritted his teeth. “Who are you?” he hissed, not wanting to draw his crew’s attention just yet. “How the hell did you get in here?”

When all he received was silence, he asked again, changing the question. _“What_ are you?”

“I--” the kid stuttered in a voice distinctively unthreatening, all too aware of the knife at his throat. “I was sent here for you.”

Jack looked over him. The kid had a dark blue bandana tied around his neck, accompanied by a necklace that held a small glass bottle of dust. Wait. Jack pulled his sword back from the other’s neck and sat up. If the fairy dust was anything to go by, this wasn’t a threat at all.

“You’re a _fairy?”_ Jack snorted, condescending.

It was clear the kid didn’t know how to respond. At last he managed to nod. His eyes were still on the blade Jack held, though it was no longer pointed at him.

Jack shook his head, laughed a little bit. “What in the hell are you doin’ on a pirate ship?”

The fairy frowned. He had a quiet voice. “Do you think maybe you could get off me before we continue this conversation?”

“Right.” Realizing he was still straddling the poor kid, Jack awkwardly rose to his feet.

“Look.” The fairy fidgeted his hands. “Look,” he said again. “Are you Jack Kelly?”

Jack gave him a scowl. “And what’s it to you?”

“My magic led me here. To help you.”

“To help me?” Jack scoffed, looking the kid up and down. “What could _you_ possibly help me with?”

He wracked his brain for knowledge of fairies. He remembered they were primarily guardians, or helpers. They were sent out to do good deeds, to help humans find happiness. Others who had not yet learnt how to use magic worked as messengers. This boy was more experienced, judging by the fairy dust he carried and the fact that he traveled alone.

Oh, right--and one more thing. “I thought fairies were girls,” Jack said.

The fairy looked at him. “And I thought pirates were smart,” he deadpanned. “I guess we were both wrong.”

Jack scoffed slightly. “You got a name?”

“David. But--you can call me Davey.”

“Well, Davey, you can fly away to your fairy queen or whatever, because I do not need any help. Especially not from you.”

Davey hesitated, looking lost. “Alright,” he finally decided. “If you don’t want to be helped, I suppose you can’t be.” Jack watched as he shook his shoulders slightly to make two transparent wings appear. They glistened in the reflection of moonlight behind him.

“Nice meeting you,” Davey said. With a sigh, he shrunk down to fairy size in a soft shower of blue sparks and took flight out the window.

“Pleasure’s all mine.” Jack watched him go, a glowing blue dot over the calm sea until he looked like nothing more than another one of the stars.

“Fairy,” he scoffed again as he lay back down. “I don’t need help from no stinkin’ fairy.”

-

By the time he awoke in the morning, the ship had been docked. He got dressed and wandered above deck to Crutchie, who looked bored. “They’s raiding some shoreline villages,” he informed Jack. “Most of them, anyway.”

“Brilliant,” Jack responded. He considered telling Crutchie about the fairy who’d come in the night, as he was still troubled over it, but honestly he wasn’t convinced it hadn’t been a dream. He was still in his underclothes, not yet suited in his usual pirate attire. He often tried to go as long as he could without wearing it.

“Jack?”

“Huh?”

“D’you wanna go for a walk?”

Jack glanced at him, and Crutchie smiled. “What? I need fresh air.”

“Why not, then. Lemme get dressed.” Jack clapped his shoulder affectionately and returned suited up in boots and vest. 

“Let’s go into town,” Crutchie said. “I like the looks of fear sometimes.”

So they went, trekking over the soft white sand and through a small village that clearly the other pirates hadn’t gotten their hands on yet on their way to the island’s bustling town. As usual, everybody stepped aside and whispered when they noticed the two pirates strolling down the street.

Crutchie was looking around at all the people. “You know what’d be fun?”

“No, but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me.”

“It’d be fun owning a store all on your own, you know? Or a trading post? I’d like to trade seashells.”

“You’re the worst pirate ever,” Jack said.

“I never said I wasn’t. Yeah, seashells,” Crutchie said again, dreamily. “I collected ‘em as a kid. We used to live in a shoreline village.” He looked at Jack. “Where did you live when you were younger?”

“Moved between villages trying to find work,” Jack answered vaguely, not wanting to talk about it.

“I’m sick of being a pirate,” Crutchie sighed, stopping suddenly.

“You know, big guy,” Jack answered, slinging an arm around Crutchie’s shoulders, “so am I.”

“It’s different for you. You’re good at it. I’m only here because of my father, who always wanted me dead anyhow.”

“Why not just leave then?”

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s dangerous leaving a pirate ship—sometimes they try ‘n come hunt you down when you do.” Crutchie started walking again, Jack still on his shoulders. “But it’s more than that, too. Something about my father being—well, er, former—captain makes me feel obligated to stay. I dunno.”

Jack ruffled his hair. “I guess I get it.”

“How come you don’t split?”

“I’d have nothing if I did.”

“Do you have something now?”

Jack felt like he’d been slapped in the face. “I—don’t know.”

They wandered a bit more, window shopping and talking before the weight on Jack’s mind of what Crutchie had said grew too much. “Hey,” he said, “I’m feelin’ sick in my stomach again. Wanna come back to ship?”

Crutchie shook his head. “You go. I wanna stay out a while longer.”

-

Jack was looking down at the sand, not at where he was going, and was therefore startled by a voice behind him. “Hello again!”

He remembered the voice and scowled, spinning around to see Davey’s wings slow to a stop as he landed delicately in the sand by Jack. “You again? I thought we established we don’t like each other.”

“Look,” Davey said, “I don’t wanna be around you anymore than you do me.”

“Okay, great. Bye.” Jack turned and started to walk again.

He heard the flutter of wings behind him as the fairy flew over his head and landed right in front of him to block his path. “But here’s the thing.”

Jack threw his head back and sighed.

“If my magic led me to you and told me I gotta help you, I can’t move on until I do. So that means we’re stuck together until I figure out what you need to be happy.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “I’m plenty happy, thank you.” He tried to shoulder past and continue walking, but the fairy leaned over to stop him.

“ _Please._ I have to help you. I could lose my position as a fairy if I don’t.”

“And that’s my problem because?” Another failed escape attempt.

“It’s your problem because I’m not gonna leave you alone until you’re happy. My magic can track you. You can run anywhere you like; I’ll always find you. You’re stuck with me, pal. That’s your problem.”

Jack scowled. “This sounds more like a curse than any kind of help.”

“You could say the same about being a fairy.” Davey looked hopeful, though--it wasn’t a no.

He shook his head. Imagine what the other pirates would say if they saw Jack with a fairy on his heels. “No. No way. You can’t just follow me everywhere.”

“Do you think I want to?”

Jack studied him, his glittering wings and squared shoulders and resolute eyes. Wherever he looked, the message was clear: Davey was not going to give up. “Alright,” he finally snapped. “So, what do I need to be happy? What do you have to find me?” He started picking through the sand again at a slower pace.

Davey fell in step beside him. “Well--” he started excitedly, then bit his lip. “Well, I don’t actually know. Not yet,” he added as Jack threw his hands up, exasperated. “But I will figure it out if I spend more time with ya. Tell me about yourself.”

“I can’t believe it took just one damn day for me to get into the worst situation of my life.”

Ignoring his attitude, Davey pressed on. “C’mon. How did you become a pirate? Were your parents?”

“I ain’t got no parents.”

“Oh.”

“My folks died when I was little. Some pirates came to my town when I was livin’ on my own, offered me a place on their ship. They promised me food and shelter and the chance to win all the battles I wanted. Of course I took it. It’s been that way ever since.”

Davey’s eyes were wide, like he’d just had some kind of epiphany. “So you killed people before?”

Flustered, Jack blurted, “Yeah I have. Loads of times.”

This was a lie. Thus far he’d managed to hide out with Crutchie during most of the situations involving murder. He didn’t have the heart for it. Something like pride bloomed in his chest when Davey nodded gravely, clearly buying it.

“So you like being a pirate?”

“It’s alright.”

Davey looked frustrated. “You’re so evasive.”

“Guess my practice has paid off.”

 

By now, Jack knew, the others would be heading back to the ship. Silently he started in that direction, still with some hopes of shaking Davey off. The tide crept closer and closer to their boots as the sun set.

“You can’t come on the ship,” he finally said. “My crew would gut you.”

“No, I know. I can turn small, remember? I’ll be fine.”

“You been thinking about this, haven’t you?”

“I did my homework.”

Jack grunted as he boarded the ship. It was a challenge every time, even with the ladder pulled down; there weren’t enough rungs and you had to grab onto a rope and pull yourself up.

“Here,” Davey said from behind him. “Let me help you.”

Jack screamed when he felt a pressure under his feet lift him off the ground. He thrashed, but it was useless against the force picking him up.

His body continued lifting, though, at a slow pace until he was placed gingerly on the ship. Davey took out his wings and floated up effortlessly next to him. “You never heard of fairy dust making people fly?” he asked, smiling at Jack’s flustered expression.

“Course I heard of it! Just startled me. That’s all.”

“Course,” Davey said, smiling to himself.

Jack shook himself off, trying to hide his shaking hands. “I don’t suppose I’ll have to arrange someplace for you to sleep.” He took off toward his own cabin. Davey followed behind him (as always), looking around the still-empty ship.

“It’s not what I expected,” Davey said, sitting on Jack’s bed. Jack busied himself setting up an empty bunk across the room for him. “The ship, I mean. I thought it’d be scarier.”

“Half a crew is just scared kids,” Jack answered. “The other half are the people who do the killing.”

“Which side are you on?”

“Both.”

Davey looked at him curiously. “I don’t think you are.”

“The hell do you mean by that?” Jack looked at him and felt a hand go to the sword in his belt dangerously.

Davey persisted. “I don’t think you got it in you to kill. I don’t, and you don’t look any older than me.”

“How ‘bout I prove it to you?” Jack snapped in a tone meant to be threatening.

“Go ahead.”

Jack growled under his breath and clenched his fists. “Oh, you are so--”

“Kelly!”

“Fuck,” Jack hissed, looking up in the direction of the deck. “Do your--” He flapped his hands frantically.

Davey shrank down to fairy size and zipped into a corner just as the door banged open and the ship’s captain, a lumbering man with unwashed hair and an intoxicated smile, burst in. “How goes it down here?”

“Fine!” Jack said with a horrific voice crack, leaning over subtly to cover where Davey was hiding. “Fine, great!”

The captain frowned. “Are you sure about that?”

“Peachy. Doing great. Everyone back?”

“Yes--why do you have an extra bed made up--”

“How’s Crutchie? He okay?”

“Crutchie’s fine. Kelly, is something--”

“Well, you look tired. You look so tired. I can’t believe how tired you look. Go up and get some rest. I need some myself, you know--”

“Rest?” The captain laughed, deep and loud. “Boy, I’m drinking into the night if I’m doing anything! If you know what’s good for you, you’ll join us.”

“I would, but I got this stomach-ache…”

He slapped Jack’s shoulder. Even harder than usual thanks to the alcohol. “Nonsense! Rum helps with a stomach-ache!” He turned and hobbled back up to the deck, laughing at absolutely nothing.

There were a few moments of silence.

“You can come out now,” Jack sighed.

Davey reappeared with his signature blue glow. “He seems lively.”

“God, he’s usually vicious.”

-

Jack was in bed, watching Davey sleep and thinking about what Crutchie had said. It made him recall his parents. His mother had been a shopkeeper and his father--God, he couldn’t even remember. It had all been so long ago.

A wizard. That was it. His father had practiced as a wizard.

“A wizard,” Jack whispered, sitting bolt upright. “Maybe a wizard is what we need!”

Davey frowned sleepily at him. “What are you--”

Jack jumped to his feet and began pacing through the cramped room. “You said it’s magic that binds us together right now, right?”

“Yeah…”

“It’s your magic that ties you to me, and it’s your magic that lets you track me. Well, could another kind of magic--stronger magic--break that bond between us?” Jack gesticulated excitedly. “And if it could, that would solve this, right? I mean, you could go help someone who actually needs help and we’d never have to see each other again.”

Davey was much more awake now, interested at the prospect of getting out of this. “I guess it would work to ask a wizard,” he said slowly.

Jack let out a wild laugh. “Then let’s go!” He dropped into bed and began fumbling to yank on his boots.

“Now?” Davey asked, blinking rapidly.

“Did I stutter?”

“What about--won’t your crew think you split?”

“That’s the point. I can’t tell ‘em where I’m going.”

“Wait,” Davey said, his sleep-addled brain still struggling to keep up. “If you do this, you won’t be able to come back here. Are you sure?”

“This place don’t mean jack shit to me. I can always find a place on another ship.”

“What about your one friend?”

Crutchie. Shit. Jack stopped midway through tying the laces of his boots and sat up straight again, looking into Davey’s worried face.

“He could come with us,” Davey offered.

Jack shook his head, biting at his thumb nail absentmindedly as he thought. “No, he wouldn’t want to. He could never just up and leave, this used to be his father’s ship.”

“He doesn’t seem to like it on here either.”

“Legacy is legacy.” Jack sighed heavily. He couldn’t just leave Crutchie high and dry, though, after his endless kindness. The guy had made his time on this pirate ship bearable. He brightened. “I’ll leave him a note.”

Then he deflated again. “Shit, I don’t have paper.”

Davey smiled a little, bent his head, and pulled off the necklace holding his small bottle of dust. He sprinkled some into his palm and dropped it, and halfway to the floor it flashed into a piece of paper. “You got ink?” Davey asked, handing it to him.

Jack hardly heard him, was examining the paper in amazement. “Uh, no.”

Another sprinkle of dust and there was the writing utensil.

“How the hell do you do that?” Jack asked, leaning forward and squinting at the little glass bottle. Flushed, Davey strung it back around his neck and tucked it skillfully behind the bandana.

“Magic,” he responded. “Fairy magic.”

“So you can just make anything appear? Anything at all? Could you just, like, summon a wizard here?”

Davey shook his head, clearly noticing the wild excitement on Jack’s face. “There are loads and loads of rules for magic. I can’t create any living creature, and I can only create things I’ve seen before, and even then if I make something dangerous I could get in some serious trouble.”

Jack sighed, disappointed. “So I really am stuck with you.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Finished with his farewell letter, he held it up to Davey. “How do we get this to him?”

Davey hesitated, then grabbed the paper. “Be right back.”

“Hey--” Jack started, but Davey shrunk down before he could hear him and flew off. He returned mere moments later and switched back to normal size.

“It’s in his room,” he said. “Now let’s go find that wizard.”

-

The sand whispered beneath Jack’s feet as he gripped the rope on the side of the ship and swung down onto the ground. It would have been too noisy to pull down the ladder they usually used for boarding. Davey, of course, had simply drifted to the ground without a care in the world.

“Do you happen to know where to find a wizard?” Davey whispered. He shook his shoulders to retract his wings and fell into step next to Jack, whose face was set mutinously ahead.

“Somewhere in town, surely.”

“I should hope.”

“What, you don’t think we’ll find one?” Jack suddenly brightened. “Hey--could your magic lead you to one?”

Davey laughed. “My magic only leads me to you.”

They had gotten out of the sand now and onto a dusty path, leading through woods to the town. It was trodden by countless boots. They were not the first travelers on this path, and they would not be the last. Davey looked into the dark trees with some sort of anxiety. Jack noticed and glanced over his shoulder, grinning.

“You scared of the dark?”

“Looks like a long walk.”

“Mm-hmm. Most villages here are deep in these woods.”

“No problem,” Davey said, voice squeaky. “Little forest hike? No problem.”

“If you’re sure, darling,” Jack answered, adjusting the bag slung around his shoulder. “You can hold my hand if you like.”

Davey hid his hands behind his back. “I’m alright.”

Jack was already wandering away from him into the underbrush and greenery. With an anxious sigh, Davey scurried into the blackness after him.

It truly was dark. Jack tripped more times than he honestly cared to admit, and once he caught himself on Davey’s arm, who had the decency not to mention it. The world around them was dead silent; no bird calls, no insect chirps, nothing but the dry rustle of leaves.

Davey paused in walking and shook his shoulders, causing his wings to reappear. Jack, startled by the sudden glow, turned and winced at the blue brightness. “The hell are you doing that for?”

“Light,” Davey explained, embarrassed. “So we can see where we’re going.”

“Yeah. Blind me, why don’t you?”

Davey began walking again, letting the aura he cast on the undergrowth light the way. “It surprises me there are no other travelers,” he commented in a low voice.

“If there are, they’s probably sleeping,” Jack retorted.

They both stopped. Sleep sounded like a good idea.

“We can’t just both take a nap.”

“Shifts?” Davey suggested.

“Sure. You can sleep first.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. You look ready to fall over.”

Davey shook his head. “I feel like you’re gonna kill me or take off.”

Jack rolled his eyes, annoyed. “You can track me, can’t you? And I’m tired too. I ain’t going anywhere.” He sat down, watching Davey settle down with his bag under his head. In a matter of minutes he was asleep.

Jack looked down at him and sighed heavily, wondering again what the hell he had done to get himself into this situation. Davey snored a little—nothing too bad, just a soft sound each time he breathed out. Jack concentrated on it and watched pale grey light turn into sunrise turn into dawn. Just as the dark was fading, though, he heard faint rustling.

He glanced at Davey, who was still asleep as ever with his cheek pressed into his bag. Slowly he stood, unsheathing his sword and squinting into the dimness.

Along with the rustling came the sound of distant voices. His heart began to pound.

“Davey,” he hissed, reaching down and shaking the fairy.

“Mmm… what?” Davey asked, turning on his side to face away from Jack and yawning.

“Davey,” he repeated, frantic. The shouts were getting louder, the unmistakable shouts of a pirate crew. “Davey, get up, we gotta run.”

Finally Davey sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What’s going on?” he slurred.

Jack yanked him to his feet by the elbow, slung his bag around his neck and took off. “Come on. They’re after us.”

Davey’s legs started moving just so Jack’s grip on his arm wouldn’t pull him over. “Who?”

“Faster! My crew, you nimrod!”

“Your crew?” Davey looked at him, horrified. “You didn’t say--you never mentioned they’d _come after us!”_

“That’s what pirates do! I thought you knew that!”

“Well, I didn’t! That would have been kind of a dealbreaker for me!”

They were getting closer; Davey heard hoofbeats too and looked at Jack in a panic. “Are pirates known for having horses? Or is that something else obvious I’m supposed to know?”

“Less of the arguing, more of the running!”

“Where would they have gotten--”

“They musta stolen ‘em! I don’t know!” Louder shouts, more intense hoofbeats. Jack gave up running, leaning on his knees and breathing hard. “Shit, we can’t outrun ‘em. Either we hide or we fight.”

“Maybe not.”

Jack sent him a frustrated glance. “What are you--”

Davey’s wings appeared again behind him. He yanked off his bottle of fairy dust and shook some into his hand. Jack tore at his hair. “Dave, we ain’t got time for whatever little fairy spell thing you’re--”

“Close your eyes,” Davey said, throwing the dust all over Jack. His thin wings began to beat as he lifted himself into the air, leaving Jack on the ground until the fairy dust lifted him with that familiar pressure.

“We can hide, or fight, or fly,” Davey said with a massive grin.

“Not this again,” Jack snapped, flailing around in the air.

“It’s our only chance.”

Jack looked at the ground getting further and further away under him. _I hate this, I hate this, I hate this._ “Is there any way to stay closer to the--” he started, but his words were lost in a shout of, “There he is!”

There they were, on horses and holding all sorts of weapons and getting closer. “Jack,” Davey said, voice high and terrified, “Either you’re gonna fly right now or we’re gonna--”

“Go!” Jack shrieked. Davey grabbed Jack’s arm and took flight just in time to avoid an arrow being shot at them.

The path got smaller and smaller. Jack clung to Davey’s arm, breath coming in fast pants. He stared down at the trees below them as they flew over the forest, as the shouts of pirates grew ever more distant. He could not believe he’d ever complained about sailing. “So you just do this all the time?” he blurted out shakily, but Davey didn’t even hear him; he was looking over his shoulder for their pursuers.

“I think we lost them,” Davey said, pausing when they’d taken a few odd turns and covered more ground.

He looked over at Jack, who was feeling ready to faint. “Lift up your legs,” he instructed. “Spread out your arms. Like wings.” He demonstrated, flinging out the arm that wasn’t holding Jack’s.

Jack copied him, clumsily. “How well does this stuff--”

“If you scrunch yourself up, you’ll fall.” Davey looked at him, eyes laughing. “I’m gonna let go of you now, okay?”

“Davey, Davey, please, don’t, wait--” he scrunched his eyes closed and shouted in alarm when Davey’s grip was gone, prepared to plunge and die. When it had been a few seconds of screaming and the ground still wasn’t there, he dared open his eyes. He was still hovering in place, Davey in front of him with his wings fluttering.

He moved his arm a bit to inspect the glow underneath it, then immediately panicked and returned it to his original position. “Whose idea was this?” he muttered grumpily.

Davey was smiling. “Try moving forward. C’mon. I’m right here.”

Jack felt like a small child being taught to swim. “What if I don’t wanna move?” he snapped, but he moved his arms and legs slowly like he was kicking through water. He gasped when his body moved closer to Davey, who clearly was enjoying himself.

“What did you think, that I was holding you up for that long? Have you seen my arms? Fairy dust is powerful stuff.”

“So I’m afraid of heights,” Jack snapped, defensive. “I could still beat you in a swordfight.”

“Not if I climbed a tree,” Davey answered, laughing when Jack flailed in the air and attempted to hit him.

“We oughta go back down, anyway. My wings are getting tired.” Davey took Jack’s arm again and let his wings go still. They sunk down slowly into the middle of the forest, a good ways from the path now.

“I believe…” Jack muttered when he had finally stopped shaking, adjusting his bag, “I believe a thank you is in order. You saved our asses, fairy.”

Davey gasped and rubbed his arm. “Was that a little ice that just chipped off?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Really, though. No problem. I think I--” Davey stopped upon seeing someone in the distance. “Hey!” he called, running closer.

Jack followed, and surprise took over him as he saw the cloak and long skirt. It was a girl, tucking a handful of flowers into her satchel. Her long hair was pinned back and she didn’t seem to hear them coming until they were very close.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Davey said, “would you be able to tell us where we might--”

She whirled on them and yanked a bow out of nowhere, aiming an arrow and pointing it at Jack’s chest. “State your business!”

“Whoa,” Jack yelped, putting out his hands. “Calm down, girlie—Jesus.”

“Not until you tell me what a pirate is doing so deep in these woods. What are you planning?!” She looked frantically over both shoulders, then suspiciously at Davey. “Are there more of you, huh? I know pirates. Can’t trust any of you! Give me a convincing story and I might just let you live.”

“Look,” Jack insisted as she glared up at him behind the weapon, “this is--”

“We need to find a wizard and do something very illegal!” Davey shouted. “Just please put down the weapon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! first newsies fic! wrow!!!!  
> i watched once upon a time and created a monster. i wasn't gonna publish this but was Peer Pressured so here we go! (yes there are som more chapters! i will try to update)   
> i'll stop talking im too wordy in these asflhsflk  
> but hey, if you wanna, leave me a comment n tell me what you thought! ++come say hi on tumblr @livingchancy :)))


	2. Chapter 2

She looked between them, eyebrows rising. Her eyes were bright. “Illegal?”

“Look, I’m a fairy,” Davey explained, still holding his hands out as a peace offering. “I got sent to help him but I can’t so we’re trying to find a wizard who can break the bond between us because we don’t like each other. Please don’t shoot him.”

She let the bow drop. Her eyebrows were furrowed, clearly trying to decipher whether or not this was true. “You can’t make up fairy dust,” she noted finally, gesturing to Davey’s necklace.

“So you trust us?” Jack asked.

“I trust the fairy,” she answered, nodding to Davey. “Still not sure about you.”

He scowled. “Come on, not all pirates are that bad.”

“True enough, but too many of you are.” She tucked her arrow back into her quiver, thought for another moment. “You say you need a wizard?”

“Yes. Can you tell us where to find one? We… well, we’re lost.”

“As a matter of fact,” she said, smiling, “you’re looking at one. Come with me. I just might be able to help you.” Before they could ask any questions, she turned, lifted her long skirt, and began walking through the woods.

Davey looked at Jack, Jack looked at Davey, and they shared a moment of silent cluelessness. Finally Davey shrugged at him and then followed her. With an unnecessarily obnoxious sigh, Jack hurried after them. 

The woods seemed ready to go on forever with odd twisting routes and brightly-colored plants. “So, what brought you out into these woods?” Davey asked the girl conversationally as Jack idly pulled apart a piece of bark.

“Gathering herbs,” she answered brightly. 

“Are there any villages around here?”

“Not that I know of. I’m traveling on my own at the moment, and I have camp set up, but my village is on another island.” She pushed her way through a screen of leaves and into a clearing, where there was a blackened firepit and belongings scattered all about. “Ta-da!”

Jack emerged into the clearing last. “Damn. This just for you?”

She sent him a sarcastic look. “Oh, no. Clearly there are others.”

He put his hands up in surrender.

“You said you… might be able to help us?” Davey asked, sensing some kind of fight beginning between them. 

Just like that, her face was glowing again. “I’m a wizard,” she told him, nodding. “I just might be able to break this bond that you speak of.”

Jack was studying an open bag of crystals by the firepit. “I never noted any girl wizards,” he said, skeptically.

She grabbed the crystal he was holding, sunny disposition unshaken. “My gender doesn’t matter as long as I can cast spells.”

“You said the same thing about a boy fairy,” Davey said, glancing at Jack.

The girl laughed. “Someone hasn’t noticed things changing.”

“That mean you can help us?”

“Weeeell,” she said in a high-pitched voice, suddenly looking hesitant. “That’s a _tiny_ fib. I’m not technically a wizard. Not yet.” Jack threw his hands up and shook his head as she continued quickly, “I have to find something in order to get my official title. You see, wizards are meant to have their own crystal, and once you’ve got it you can have your ceremony--get your full powers and all that.”

“You people are useless,” Jack groaned, rubbing his eyes. “What is it with magic and fairies and wizards and witches and never actually being able to get things done?”

Davey crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, we can fly, so--” he blew a raspberry.

“Do all wizards have to go find this crystal thing?” Jack asked, turning back to her.

“Not usually,” she replied. “In most cases, it’s passed through families. No one in my family was a wizard--or approves of a daughter being one, for that matter--so it’s up to me.”

“Is that why you’re traveling?” Davey looked at the bag of crystals she had sitting by the fireplace. “And all these are duds.”

She nodded. “I heard it was somewhere on this island. I’ve been looking, but… none of those are what I need.”

Davey perked up. “Crystal cove.”

She and Jack both looked over at him.

“Huh?”

“Crystal cove,” he repeated. “It’s where fairies around here go to get magic. It’s full of crystals. The one you need’s gotta be there. It’s down by the beach through these woods, opposite end of the island where your ship is docked, Jack.”

Jack was shaking his head. “The beach is a long ass walk. And you don’t even know what you’re doing,” he added, looking at the girl. “This isn’t worth the time. We’ll go to the nearest village and find a wizard. Come on, Davey.” He marched toward the exit to the clearing.

“Wait,” she called after them, and Jack turned. “Before you go, I just wanted to remind you of something. You mentioned how illegal it is what you want to do.” She appealed to Davey. “You do realize if you get found out, you could lose your job as a fairy? If you go find some other wizard, what’s the guarantee they won’t narc on you?” 

Jack bit the inside of his cheek. “What’s the guarantee _you_ won’t?”

“My word,” she answered, a slow smile lighting up her face. “And if you’re the ones who help me find my crystal--if you do something in return--I would have no reason to narc. If you want to take the chance, be my guest, but I’m a guarantee.”

Davey spoke. “I suppose the beach can’t be too long of a walk.”

“Davey,” Jack whined.

“Look,” Davey said, walking up to him. His eyes were serious and soft. “This might not mean jack to you, but losing my status would ruin everything for me. I can’t take a chance on it.” He glanced at her. “What’s your name?”

“Katherine,” she replied. “And I guess you’re Davey. Who’s the wise-mouth pirate?”

“That’s Jack,” Davey answered, knowing Jack was still pouting and probably wouldn’t.

Katherine held out her hand, and Davey shook it. “So, deal? Crystal in exchange for getting you two away from each other?”

“Deal.”

-

Jack led the way through dense forest, using his sword to slice particularly stubborn branches and leaves that hung in their path. 

Davey, trekking behind him, had untied the blue bandana from his neck and opted for tying it around his hair to hold it out of his face. Jack and Katherine had found it endlessly funny, saying he looked like a damsel, but he couldn’t stand his bangs in his eyes.

He found himself staring, watching Jack’s shoulder blades ripple with each swing. Jack had abandoned his dark vest and was only in his off-white shirt, with big sleeves and a loose collar that spilled over his collarbones. He had a gold earring in one ear. The only thing missing was a parrot, Davey thought.

He thought about Jack, about how he was defensive but, ironically enough, defensive about not being defensive. There had to be a reason for that lash-out personality. A person wasn’t born with a “take care of no one but yourself” attitude. The parents were gone, weren’t they? Jack had been left to fend for himself from the time he was very small.

And still he was alone. Sure, he had a place on a pirate ship, but it didn’t take any sort of genius to realize he wasn’t happy. Davey wouldn’t have even been sent for him if he were. He was lonely. He had always been on his own and he still was and he needed something to keep him from going stone-cold inside. 

He hadn’t yet. There was fire--in the way he spluttered when he talked about killing and his scattered fears and the way Davey’s magic made his eyes widen. That was good. There was part of him, still, a part of that lonely little kid that could be salvaged before he turned into a bloodthirsty pirate captain.

And what would bring out the soft side of him but--

But _love._

Davey stopped dead in his tracks, an open-mouthed smile coming to him. Love. Of _course._ That was what it had been all along. Jack needed love; that was what Davey had been sent to find for him. There was nothing more fairy-like than finding love.

Katherine noticed the sudden stop and turned, frowning. “You alright?”

“Fine,” Davey answered, catching up to Jack with all but a skip in his step.

-

“Lights,” Davey shouted, hovering up among the trees with his wings dropping little bits of dust down to the ground. “To the east. Looks like a village.”

“Is it close?” Jack called up from the ground.

“Close enough. We should stop there for food and supplies.”

“Can you see the cove?” Katherine added.

“Not from here. It is far,” he admitted. 

Davey floated back down and landed between them. They had instructed him to go up and scope out their surroundings. Jack looked nervous at the prospect of even Davey flying, shifting on his feet slightly, and Katherine was gazing at his wings in astonishment. “They’re so pretty,” she gushed.

Davey, blushing, shook his shoulders and retracted them. “Thank you.”

“What’s it like to fly?”

“It’s fun, but when you do it for a really long time it’s just tiring.”

Jack muttered, “Flat-out awful, if you ask me.”

“Which I didn’t,” Katherine answered right away.

He tried to glare at her but ended up grinning. “You know, you’re one of the first people I’ve ever met who can keep up with me.”

“Can’t imagine it’s that hard.”

He shook his head, mouth open indignantly but in the shape of a smile as she stepped past him. “Exactly! Like that.”

“So are we stopping in that village?” Katherine asks Davey. “I know we’re running out of food.”

“I think that’d be wise.” Then Davey turned to Jack. “Wait. We’ll have to disguise you if we want to go in.”

“Why?”

“Because no one’s going to sell a pirate anything, and your crew might still be on your trail.”

-

“I’m not coming out.”

“Jack,” Davey called. “Come on.”

“No.”

Katherine stood behind Davey, tapping her wand against her chin. “It can’t be that bad,” she encouraged.

“No,” Jack repeated from behind the tent of an empty camp they’d passed earlier. Whoever it was had left laundry hanging, and when they still weren’t back, they decided to take it. Kath decided, anyway. Davey was horrified at the idea of theft and Jack protested for obvious reasons.

“Jack,” Davey repeated.

“I can’t even figure out how to tie it,” he answered irritably.

“I can help you,” Kath said. “Just come here. We won’t laugh.”

There was another moment of silence. Then, Jack hobbled out from behind the tent wearing the faded red dress they had found.

It was simple, meant for a peasant woman. Davey kept Katherine’s promise, hiding his mouth behind a hand and raising his eyebrows, but she immediately began to giggle. Jack was scowling. 

“What part can’t you tie?” Katherine asked between laughs, coming up behind him. “Oh, the corset. Here, hold on.”

Jack opened his mouth, about to swear at her, and then let out a wheeze as the breath was torn out of his stomach. “So that’s how tight it’s supposed to be.”

He looked up at Davey, who had remained silent, daring him to say something.

“I mean, I’m not gonna lie,” Davey said finally. “You look hot.”

Katherine came around him and nodded seriously. “Red looks good on you.”

“God,” Jack groaned, hugging his stomach. “My spleen.”

“Oh, we have a cloak too. Probably keep that up around your hair.” Katherine tied the tan cloak around his neck, also faded, and pulled the hood up over Jack’s scowling face.

“I am not wearing this.”

“You could have my bandana,” Davey offered. “It might color-clash, but…”

“I mean the _dress!”_

“Oh, stop griping,” Katherine answered. “We need food. Do what you gotta do.”

So they went, Katherine showing Jack how to lift up his skirt. “First you make me fly, then you make me wear a corset. You people are more trouble than you’re worth,” Jack muttered, stepping carefully through the undergrowth. 

They found the village soon enough, small but bustling even for twilight. “Keep your mouth shut,” Katherine told Jack sternly. “We might know you can rock a dress, but some people don’t get that.”

He snapped a sarcastic salute at her, then let Davey lead the way.

The village was busy indeed, and not many people even glanced their way as they strolled down the street. Jack tripped on his long skirt numerous times, once falling backward into Davey, who laughed under his breath and earned himself a glare.

Katherine went off to trade with a merchant selling fruit, leaving Davey and Jack standing against a crumbly brick wall. Davey jolted when a voice spoke behind them. “Those guys after you?”

Jack turned, hostile, only to see a skinny kid with lank blond hair and big eyes staring at them. 

“Who?” Davey demanded.

“Gang of pirates that just came through here.” The kid looked closely at Jack, then grinned, nodding to the dress. “Cool.”

“Don’t start,” Jack muttered, adjusting his skirt.

“Gang of pirates?” Davey frowned. “Did they hurt anyone?”

“Nah, but they sure caused a ruckus. Woke me up in the morning, stupid bastards. I never seen you guys before, and the gold earring and disguise…”

Jack crossed his arms over his chest. “You gonna go ratting?”

“Hey,” the kid answered, “I’m just a bandit. I got nothing to gain from ratting.”

This seemed to interest Jack. “What’s your name?” 

“Race,” was the answer, and they shook hands.

“That’s not your real name,” Davey guessed.

“Nah, bandit name. I don’t know you two. Nothing personal.” He gave Davey a jagged grin. “Hey, you a fairy?”

“Yep.”

“Cool,” he repeated. “Never seen a boy one.”

“Yeah, you’re the first person who’s ever said that to me.”

“Really?” Race asked.

Davey rolled his eyes. _“No.”_

Race put his hands up. “Hey, I got a girl partner in crime. Smalls, she gets it all the time. Apparently no one ever heard of a girl bandit.” His face grew more serious. “Just wanted to tell you, they’s still looking for you. I thought you’d like to have a warning. Watch your backs.”

Jack looked surprised. “Thanks.”

“From one outlaw to another.” Race nodded to each of them, and then smiled. “If you ever need a hand, you know where to find me.”

Katherine, finished bargaining, headed back over to them just as Race left. “Who was that?”

“A bandit. He warned us about my crew still bein’ after us.”

Kath went pale. “Your _pirate crew_ is after you?”

Davey turned to Jack. “See, it’s not just me.”

“It’ll be fine,” Jack said.

“Yeah,” Katherine muttered, shouldering past him to continue buying. “I won’t take your word for it.”

-

It was pitch-black by the time they left the village, deciding not to stick close by in case of Jack’s crew lurking. A suitable distance away, they found a river to rest by.

Davey went behind Jack and untied his corset, and Jack literally fell over in relief. “You wear one of those?” he asked Kath.

She laughed. “Uh-huh. You get used to it.”

“What the _fuck_ ,” he moaned, rubbing his stomach. 

Davey smiled. He didn’t share his thoughts, which were that it did something to him seeing Jack in that red dress. What he had said hadn’t exactly been a joke. He did look good, a kind of good that made Davey’s own stomach squeeze. “How about you sleep,” he said instead, poking Jack in the cheek and coming back around to his front.

“I don’t like traveling in the night,” Katherine agreed. 

Jack scowled, shrugging off the rest of the dress. “Hell nah. You being afraid of the dark doesn’t mean we’re going to waste more time.”

Davey crossed his arms. “If I may donate my two cents? I don’t like the dark either. Let’s rest.”

Jack threw his hands up. “Majority rule of fairies and witches.”

“Wizard,” Katherine corrected, with an emphasis that indicated she was not above lecturing him.

“Which you aren’t technically yet--”

“You two sleep first,” Davey cut in as she put her fists up. “Maybe that’ll get you away from each other’s throats for a while.”

They obeyed him, each finding different places to curl up. Davey tucked the dress into Jack’s bag, just in case it may come in handy again. “I’ll keep the cloak for myself,” he said, holding it up. “I lost mine ages ago.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Whatever you want.”

When it was at last silent, Davey slipped his fairy dust off his neck and into his palm. “Come on,” he whispered, clenching his teeth as he dropped half on Jack, half on the ground. “Come on, come on.”

The dust lifted, floating in the air. It glowed bright blue. 

It did not move.

“What?” Davey whispered, scrunching his eyebrows.

He tried some more, throwing it to the wind this time, but it simply joined the other dust and floated in the center of Jack, Davey, and Kath. 

He sat back, defeated. That dust was meant to lead him to Jack’s true love. Either there was something wrong with his dust, or…

Or it was one of them.

He’d often heard his mother say the world worked in mysterious ways--could the world push you into your true love through a series of unlikely events? Davey looked at Kath, back at Jack, to Kath again. It couldn’t be, but it had to be. The dust floated there, stubborn as ever, motionless.

Jack was meant to fall in love with Katherine.

That was the only explanation. It seemed so chancy, though--they’d never have even run into Kath if they hadn’t been chased by the pirates, if they hadn’t taken exactly the turns they had, if Davey hadn’t spoken up agreeing to go with her rather than find another wizard.

So now it was his job to set them up. How, though? Katherine wasn’t exactly into Jack, and although he seemed to have some weird budding admiration for her, Davey didn’t sense any spark.

Whatever the dust said.

Tomorrow, he promised himself, bottling his dust back up and looking up at the stars. Tomorrow he would start his Get Jack And Kath Together Miniquest.

-

They changed shifts, letting Davey sleep while Jack stood watch. Katherine couldn’t sleep anymore, though. Eventually she gave up on staring into space and sat up.

She glanced at Jack and noticed him staring at Davey with a barely-there smile. “What?” she asked.

He jumped at the sound of her voice and hid it instantly, biting his upper lip. “Nothing. He’s just funny, that’s all.”

She raised skeptical eyebrows but didn’t push on him. There was some sort of flame in the way he watched that fairy, and she may not understand it but she knew it wasn’t scorn. “I like him,” she answered affectionately. “He lightens things up.”

“If it was just you and me, you’da set me on fire by now.”

“And you’d have stuck me with a sword.”

They smiled at each other, sharing a moment of mutual love-hate.

The sun rose slowly. Davey breathed steadily beneath them.

“Should we wake him?” Katherine asked.

Jack glanced down at Davey. “Nah, let him rest.” 

Without really thinking, then, he leaned over and pushed Davey’s hair up off his forehead with gentle fingers. There were smudges of dirt on his cheeks and his dark eyelashes fluttered a little.

When he straightened, Kath’s eyes were on him, and he turned red. “His hair… it was… eyes. In his eyes.” Jack gestured to his own eyes, as if she might have forgotten where they were.

She just smiled. “Mm-hmm.”

“You’re a pain in the ass,” Jack muttered.

They were silent for a while. Finally, Katherine said, “You know, you really did look good in that dress.”

He looked at her and started to laugh, and so did she. “I’m serious!”

-

Davey woke up to someone shaking his shoulder. It was so gentle he assumed it was Kath, and he was therefore stunned to see Jack hovering over him when he opened his eyes. The pirate crossed his arms over his chest. “Come on, fairy. We got a crystal to find.”

He sat up. “I think you’ve woken me up from a good sleep about eight times now.”

“That’s our thing.”

 

Davey huffed. “And who said romance is dead?”

He stood, dusted himself off, and retied his bandana around his hair. Katherine came back up to them just as Davey was going to ask where she’d gotten off to. He found himself looking between her and Jack, trying to see them in their destined light. She smiled. “Jack got you up, then. It took ages.”

“Probably because he hardly touched me.”

“I felt bad waking you up,” Jack muttered, looking embarrassed.

Davey put a hand on his heart. “Aww, Jack. Really?”

Jack just turned and unsheathed his sword, flushed. “Come on, we got places to be.”

Katherine shot an amused glance at Davey before ducking under a branch and following him.

Davey caught up to Jack, twiddling his thumbs nervously. “So,” he started in a low voice, glancing over his shoulder to check Kath was out of earshot. “That Kath. What do you think of her?”

Jack quirked an eyebrow. “She’s alright.”

“Yeah,” Davey said, as awkwardly as humanly possible. God, he didn’t know what he was doing. His dust had never called for him to set people up before. “She’s, uh, she’s really somethin’.”

Jack laughed a little. “Uh, sure.”

Different approach, Davey. “Er, it really seems like you guys have clicked.”

“I think I annoy the hell out of her.”

“No way. Your personalities are just a lot... together.”

Jack paused in walking. “Now what are you on about?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you get this look on your face when you’re trying to say something without saying it and it’s frustrating and you should cut to the chase.”

“I never thought of pirates as psychoanalysts.”

“And I never thought of fairies as guys, but here we are.”

“Or wizards as girls.”

“That, too. She seems like she could be good at it, though. She’s quick.”

Davey perked up. “You like that about her? That she’s quick?”

“I like that in any person.”

Davey gave up. Jack plus emotion equaled hopeless. He’d have to try Kath.

-

“So. Jack, huh?”

Katherine snorted. “Yeah, that guy.”

“He’s alright, you think?”

“A bit of an egomaniac, but I think he’s alright deep down. What’s the word--gentle. That’s the word I’d use. Deep down, he’s gentle.”

“You think he’s attractive?” Davey asked, scratching the back of his neck.

She laughed. “Uh, I guess so. Personally I don’t dig the gold earring, but… that’s his choice.”

This was hopeless. Davey abandoned the interrogation and looked up at the hazy sky. There was no way it could be right--if they were destined to fall madly in love, surely he’d be getting more than awkward laughs and backhanded comments. It had to be something wrong with the dust.

Or maybe Jack was just unfixable. Either way, Davey tried to comfort himself, it didn’t matter. Kath was separating them anyway.

Still. Still, he felt guilty. He looked at Jack. What kind of fairy was he if he couldn’t do this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hola! if youre enjoying this, there is a rebloggable post on my tumblr @livingchancy: https://livingchancy.tumblr.com/post/170409950542/livingchancy-lovely-bitter-water-newsies-word  
> also race and smalls may just return so keep ur eyes open for them :')  
> leave a comment if u like! they rlly rlly mean a lot. (no presh though. ok bye) <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hola, i have had A Day. i skipped PE and wrote this in a school bathroom so hey enjoy!!! a certain bandit boy just might return gasp

Jack lagged behind Kath and Davey, lost in his own head. They were on their fourth day of walking now and he couldn’t get Crutchie off his mind. He wondered if he got Jack’s letter, if he was hurt by Jack leaving, if he was with the rest of the crew when they came to hunt him down--

His eyebrows furrowed.

“Hey,” he called ahead of him vaguely, not taking his eyes off of the smoke rising into the sky some distance away.

Davey turned. “Something the matter?” Then he saw it. “Oh. Huh.”

Kath came to stand between them. “The hell?”

“Surely a fire in a village,” Davey said, nervously.

“No, that ain’t smoke from an ordinary fire,” Jack muttered.

He felt the fairy’s eyes on him, then the wizard’s. “So then what?”

He didn’t say anything. “Let’s just keep going. That’s not in the direction of the crystal cave or whatever, is it?”

“No,” Davey said, fidgeting.

Jack scowled. “Why’re you looking at me like I owe you money?”

“Because I figured you’d have the answers.” Davey fell into step at Jack’s side despite the harsh words, and Jack noticed the way he pressed himself nearer. 

“Why should I have the answers? I don’t know anything.”

Katherine brought up the rear, and donated her two cents to the conversation. “Yes, you do. I hate saying it, pirate, but you’ve kept us both just a bit safer this whole time.”

Flustered, Jack looked down at Davey cowering behind him. “If you expect protection from me, you’re screwed.”

-

It was mid-day. The smoke had done nothing but grow thicker as the sun rose higher in the sky, seeming closer each time Katherine looked at it. She knew plenty about fire, and the way it was spreading, continuing, was peculiar. Surely people in the village would have it out by now?

Unless.

Unless there were no more people in the village?

She squeezed her own hands, shaking off the thought. Stop it with your horror stories, lady.

Jack and Davey were eating the last of the food she had wrestled out of that village. Well, Davey was, anyway. Jack was busy tormenting the fairy, picking a pretend sword-fight with him while Davey held him at bay with magic, a bored look on his face.

“Are you about done?”

“Come on,” Jack whined. “It’s a useful skill! Stand up. No more magic. Show me what you got.”

Davey stood and was promptly handed Jack’s sword. “Hold still,” the pirate demanded, going behind him and starting to manually move his body into proper form. Davey let him have his fun, strangely flustered from the feeling of Jack’s grip on his arms. 

“I still don’t see the point of this,” he insisted as Jack grabbed his fingers and wrapped them around the handle of the blade in a certain way, the warm weight of his hands hovering for an extra second.

“Self-defense. Even fairies gotta know it.”

“I have you to defend me, don’t I?”

“You know how to swing it?” Jack questioned.

“I think so.” Davey swung it through the air and overestimated where it would end, accidentally hitting Jack in the face (luckily with the dull end of the blade). 

Katherine burst into laughter.

“Oh, shit!” Davey whipped around to where Jack was doubled over, groaning dramatically.

“Your own fault!” Katherine put in, still laughing.

“I don’t need your input, ma’am.” Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You got some strength, fairy, I tell you that.”

“Do it again, Davey,” Kath said.

“You like seeing me in pain, or what?”

“Is it bad if I say yes?”

“I’m so sorry!” Davey was bright red. “Oh my God, I feel so bad. I feel horrible. Are you okay? Lemme see.” He leaned closer, fussing over the forming bruise until Jack pushed him off.

Jack, with the attention span of a goldfish, was picking up two sticks from the ground. “Here, let’s practice with these. You’re gonna cut my head off with that.”

“This reminds me of a game I would play with my kid brother,” Davey muttered, twirling his stick in his hand.

“En garde!” Jack shouted with a grin, striking at Davey, who cried out in surprise and jabbed his twig back as a reflex. Jack was able to leap out of range before he got poked, but he laughed. “Yeah, like that! You’re getting it.”

He swung at Davey again, and they went on for a while hitting the branches together and shouting threats. Davey got Jack up against a tree and was about to poke his stomach, but Jack managed to hook his foot around Davey’s leg and trip him. Davey yelped and grabbed onto his shirt out of instinct, taking Jack down with him.

His back hit the ground hard. Jack sprung back into action, lifting up to kneel over Davey and press the end of his stick into his chest. “I win!” 

Davey just sighed his defeat.

Jack hovered on all fours over him, smiling smugly. “Best out of three?”

“No way,” Davey stuttered at their closeness.

“You’re not as bad as I thought you’d be at that.”

“That’s probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Whoa, wait, what the hell?” Jack leaned in far too close to Davey’s face with wide eyes.

“Ah!” Davey spluttered, trying and failing to pull back. “Jack Kelly, what--”

“Your eyes are so pretty. I never noticed ‘em before.”

Davey felt his face grow hot. “They’re just hazel.”

“They’re, like, different colors. That’s so weird.”

“Do you _mind?”_ Davey asked, keenly aware of how chest-to-chest close they were.

“Right,” Jack said, hauling himself to his feet. He turned to Kath, grinning widely and holding out his stick. “Well?”

She smiled and drew her own branch. “You’re on, pirate.”

-

“Hey, Dave,” Jack said, turning to him. “You wanna fly up and see where we are?”

Davey sighed but brought out his wings and fluttered up into the trees. Kath and Jack watched him go, disappearing against the blue of the sky. Kath then turned to Jack, face creased with worry. “What do you really think that smoke is?”

Jack shifted uncomfortably. He hadn’t wanted to say too much in front of Davey, out of some bizarre protective instinct over him--he knew it would freak him out, and a freaked-out Davey was absolutely no fun. “Hard to say.”

“You don’t think… your crew?”

He swallowed, then let out a little frustrated laugh. “I just don’t understand why they’d be so set on getting me.”

“Well… did you take anything?”

“No.”

“I mean, maybe it’s not even them--” she started, but stopped and smiled as Davey drifted to the ground right in front of them--

\--and then immediately vanished from sight.

Jack let out a shriek as three human figures came sprinting out of the trees and one took Davey down. Kath flew over to them as did Jack, weapons out, prepared by all means to fight pirates. Speak of the devil and the devil shall come, Kath thought wildly as one of the attackers sat up where he’d flattened Davey. 

His eyes focused in on Jack and went cold. “It’s a pirate!” he screeched, launching himself at Jack before he could move and pushing him against the nearest tree by the throat. “You with them, huh? What are you doing out here? You after us?” 

Jack’s reaction was instant and instinctual. He shoved back fiercely, shouting, “I don’t know what you--”

The stranger shoved back at him, both of their threats lost in each others’ shouts, and eventually they fell on the ground, throwing punches and attempting to pull out their swords. Davey had gotten up from the ground and was pulling on the guy’s shoulder, yelling for him to back off, when Jack heard a familiar voice. 

“Spot, lay off! Lay off! I know him!” At last the small raging stranger was dragged off him, held back by both Davey and the bandit Jack had met in the village before.

“Race,” he said, surprised.

The third person with them was standing behind Race, anything but threatening--a bright-eyed small girl with choppy hair and dirt-smudged cheeks. It was clear all three of them had been running, and they were in terrible shape--beat up, covered in black smears of what looked like soot. 

“Why d’you know a pirate?” Spot (as Race had called him) growled, struggling in he and Davey’s grip. “Let me at him!”

Jack wiped at his new bloody nose. “I’m runnin’ from my pirate crew. Take it down, shortstop.”

“ _What_ did you just call me?”

Kath came forward and stood between them. “Shut up!” she shouted. 

They went quiet and stared at her, wide-eyed.

She appealed to Spot. “We don’t want to hurt you. Just talk. Where’d you… come from?”

“Yeah, what the hell happened to you?” Jack asked Race.

Race wiped at blood dripping from a cut above his eyebrow. “Pirates happened,” he spluttered, bitterly. The girl shifted closer to him, looking over her shoulder nervously. “They came into the village we was staying in and--did what pirates do, I s’pose, robbed stuff and set fires. The fires were what got us. They were everywhere. I’m sure that village is ash now.”

Jack stared at him, horrified. “How’d you know they was pirates?”

“Accents, uniforms, and who the hell else would barge into a village to set fires?” This was Spot speaking up. 

“We were some of the only ones who got out,” said the girl in a tiny voice. “It was terrible.”

Race put a protective arm around her.

Katherine was looking at Jack, and Jack looked back at her.

“I hate when you do that,” Davey sighed.

“Huh?”

“Like, talk with your eyes when you don’t want me to know something. What are you thinking?”

“That it’s my crew,” Jack sighed. “It’s gotta be.”

Davey went wide-eyed, and Spot gritted his teeth. “So you’re the reason they’re doing all this?”

“Not quite--”

Spot lunged again, only to be grabbed by Race and Davey just in time. “Spot,” Race shouted. “We oughta keep moving. Leave it alone.”

“You could stick with us,” Katherine offered. They all looked at her and she shrugged. “We’re going in the direction you were running, and there’s safety in numbers, yes?”

“If those goddamned pirates are after him, I don’t wanna be anywhere _near--”_

Race flung a hand over Spot’s mouth, looking breathlessly at Katherine. “That sounds like a great idea.”

-

They’d been walking for a while when Race caught up to walk by Jack. “So, your pirate crew’s after you?”

The girl, whose name Jack had learned was Smalls, walked along on the other side of him. 

“Yeah. I split from my ship to find a wizard that could separate me and Dave, ‘cause he’s a fairy and he’s supposed to help me but he can’t, and I guess they’re pissed.”

Smalls laughed, surprising them both. “I guess they’re just a little mad.”

“I’m sorry they did that to your village.”

“Nah, I mean, it’s alright. It wasn’t mine. No village is mine.”

“Spot, though? What’s his deal?”

Race snorted. “Spot. Yeah. He’s a bandit, too, but he grew up in that village. I guess he took it hard, and the only feeling he knows how to show is anger.”

Jack laughed. “He and I could get along.”

Smalls spoke up. “Did you say Davey’s a fairy?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“That’s so cool. Does he have wings? I never knew boys could be fairies before. Can he fly and everything? Does he have dust?”

Jack smirked a little. “Yeah, he’s got wings, and dust. You can go ask him about it, if you like.”

She obeyed, running up to Davey (who was walking beside Kath and Spot) and tugging on his sleeve. Race watched her go affectionately.

“When you talked about your partner in crime, she wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, I must admit,” Jack said.

“Me neither,” Race said. “I’m crazy about her, though. She tried to steal from me, and said she was on her own. I saw… I s’pose she reminded me of myself, you know, when I was little, so I kinda took her in.”

“So you steal things together?”

“You’re a _pirate._ Don’t start.”

Jack grinned. “Hey, it’s cute.” He looked at Davey, who was patiently answering all of Smalls’s questions. “You know, though, you’re right. I never met a girl bandit before.”

“That fairy of yours,” Race said. “Sounds like he gets it a lot.”

“He ain’t _my_ fairy.”

Race raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”

“What--what, you think we’re together or something?”

“You’re not?”

Jack frowned. “No. God, no.”

Davey turned to them, just then, his eyes bright. “It’s getting dark. Let’s try to get some shut-eye.”

Suddenly, Jack remembered the prettiness of Davey’s eyes. He glanced at Race, then down to his own boots. 

-

Jack was on watch when he heard a whimpering sound.

He frowned and looked down at Davey, who was curled up below him, shifting fitfully in his sleep. For a moment he settled down and Jack began to relax, but then the distressed mumbling started up again. 

When it became clear Davey wasn’t going to sleep off the nightmare, Jack slid off the rock he was sitting on and knelt down by the fairy.

“Hey,” he hissed, gently shaking him by the shoulder.

Davey’s eyes shot open and his body went stiff. He grappled onto Jack’s arm, shoving at it in a panic. “Hey, fairy, whoa!” Jack put a heavy hand on Davey’s chest and stared into his face. “It’s just me. Chill out.”

“Jack?” he asked, bleary-eyed and frantic.

“Just me,” Jack repeated. “Nightmare?”

Davey wiped at his wet eyes and nodded, still struggling with his breaths. Jack noticed how his hands were shaking. He didn’t know what he was going to say when he began speaking, only that he wanted to pull Davey out of his head. “I used to have ‘em all the time, when I first went on my pirate ship. Seeing all the killing and stuff they did, God, it was hard. I’d see the bloodiest stuff in my head, sometimes.”

“Do you still? Have them?”

“Not usually. Crutchie has them a lot, though. When he has them he usually comes ‘n sleeps in my room.” Jack smiled faintly at the thought of Crutchie. _God, I hope he’s okay._ With the pirates on the move on a mission to hunt him down, he couldn’t help wondering where Crutchie stood.

Davey hugged his knees. Jack suddenly remembered another thing he’d do for Crutchie when they were younger. “You got a candle or a torch? Anything small you can light on fire.”

Davey gave him a funny look but pulled out some fairy dust to create a small candle. He used another sprinkle of magic to set it aflame on the ground between them.

“My mother always did this for me,” Jack said. “You lean over the flame, and it’ll burn away your bad thoughts, supposedly. You know, it protects you when you go back to sleep, that kind of thing.”

Davey didn’t question it like he might in daylight, like he might if he had energy, if he weren’t so deeply shaken. He leaned over the flame and shut his eyes, breathing in the waxy smell.

Jack watched the golden light flicker across the fairy’s face, and he felt something odd stir in his chest. He missed Crutchie, and his mother, and this boy right here was so quietly going along with his little superstition that it made Jack wanna start shaking, too.

“You okay?” he asked when Davey finally leaned back up.

Davey nodded a tiny bit. “Can I blow it out?”

“Why not.”

He blew, watching the thin smoke trickle into the air. “There you go,” Jack said. “All the nightmares are gone for sure now. Floating away to go bother someone else.”

Davey’s smile was tired and idle but full of something Jack didn’t understand. “Hey,” he said seriously, turning to the pirate, “thank you.”

Jack flushed. “‘S nothing.”

Davey grinned. “You got a soft side, don’t you?”

“God, how dare you.”

Davey laid back down, glancing at Jack in embarrassment. “Don’t move,” he said. “I mean… Just, stay there. It makes me feel better.”

“I ain’t got anywhere else to go,” Jack muttered, but he shifted right next to where Davey was resting his head and stood guard.

-

They had stopped by a river in the morning when Spot approached Davey.

“So,” Spot said, wiping off his sword, “are you guys a thing, or--”

“Huh?” Davey turned to him, preoccupied with rinsing his hair as best he could.

“You and the pirate.”

He let out a startled laugh. “Me and Jack? No. No way.”

Spot’s eyebrows knitted, but he didn’t say anything.

“Why would you even think that?”

“I dunno, just, I heard him talking to you after your bad dream. I assumed…” he trailed off, pursing his lips.

“Definitely not a thing. I think he and Kath have something going.”

“Really?” Spot questioned.

“Yeah. Is… that surprising?”

“I think she could do better, that’s all.”

Davey crossed his arms. “Oh, what, and I couldn’t?”

Spot just grinned.

Race approached Spot from behind and leaned an arm on his shoulder. “Good mornin’, sweethearts. What are we talking about?”

Spot shrugged, running a hand through his hair. “Nothing. How’d you sleep?”

Race stuck out his tongue. “On me back.”

Spot shoved at him, letting out a sarcastic “ha-ha” as they made their way over to Smalls. Katherine and Jack were talking quietly a ways down the river; Davey sighed and sat down to enjoy a moment of peace. He was still troubled by what Spot had said--it hadn’t seemed that intimate or unusual, how Jack had acted about his nightmare. 

Perhaps that was just because he’d been tired? 

He hadn’t really talked to him yet today; they’d woken up and immediately wanted to get on their way again.

When he’d woken up, Jack was asleep exactly where he said he’d stay.

He ran a hand through his hair, then tied his bandana around it. It made him think of his dust. Jack and Katherine did have a connection, that he knew. They could practically communicate telepathically, for God’s sake. He just wasn’t sure he saw the spark that the dust decreed.

He looked over at them again. Maybe it was something.

What did he know about love, anyway?

He grabbed for the bottle around his neck idly.

Wait.

His dust.

He felt around all over his chest, searched for the small rope in case it’d flipped over onto his back. Oh, no. Oh no no no. He flung his satchel on the ground in front of him and began throwing everything out of it, whispering curses under his breath.

Davey was searching his pockets when he heard Jack’s voice above him. “What in the lord’s name are you doing? You got fleas?”

“My dust,” Davey whispered.

“Your what?”

“My dust. It’s gone. Oh, my God. It’s gone!”

Katherine hurried over, and Race, Spot, and Smalls were attracted by the commotion. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t find my fairy dust,” Davey gasped, threading his hands in his hair.

Race’s eyes widened, but he said nothing.

“Okay, let’s… let’s split up, yes? Retrace our steps? Where did you last see it?” Kath asked, calmly.

“Um, where we were sleeping a way’s back. I used it to make a candle,” Davey said, catching Jack’s eye.

“Okay. You and Jack go back there, me and Spot will look down here by the river, and Race and Smalls, you guys look in the area between?”

They split accordingly, Davey running faster than Jack had ever seen him run to get back to the place where they’d set up camp. Jack didn’t say anything, sensing how serious the moment was, and instead followed him obediently to the telltale clearing and rock he’d been sitting on. Davey paced around in circles where he’d been sleeping, digging through dust and rocks.

Jack looked, too. “You don’t think--” he started, then stopped.

“What?” 

“That maybe Spot, or Race--”

“Oh, no. Don’t say that. Please. I trust them. I mean I wanna--”

“They’re bandits,” Jack said. “You can’t trust them.”

“You can’t trust pirates, either,” Davey fired back.

Jack knew it was the wrong time for flattery, but he couldn’t help his surprise at what Davey implied. “You trust me?”

Davey just sighed and turned away, continuing to look. Jack did, too, until he heard Davey gasp in relief. “I found it!” he breathed heavily with happiness, laughing a little and hugging it to his chest. “The string broke. I’ll have to fix it, I--”

Jack turned around and frowned when Davey suddenly stopped. “Hey, you okay?”

And then he saw what had made Davey stop.

Out of the trees came a band of bloodied, soot-covered pirates. 

Jack felt Davey’s shoulder brush his as he took a few slow, shaky steps back. Behind the rest of them came the captain of Jack’s ship, holding a sword just like Jack’s.

“Well, well, well,” said the captain, raising his eyebrows. “What do we have here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh dear! suspense!  
> rebloggable post if u are enjoying, it helps me out a lot!!!: https://livingchancy.tumblr.com/post/170675283647/livingchancy-lovely-bitter-water-newsies  
> also feel very very very free to leave comments, i love em a lot :))))


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! i had a not so busy day yesterday and therefore had time to finish another chapter of this! good and fun. shit goes DOWN and Them Boys are in denial. enjoy the ride

When Jack opened his eyes, the light sent sharp pain all through his head. He hissed, acutely aware of the hard ground digging into his body. 

“Jack,” he heard Kath say somewhere above him, voice high with fear. “Jack, hey, slow down.”

He did not heed her advice and forced his eyes open. His temple throbbed where it’d been struck, and he remembered, he tried to fight them off but there were too many of them--

He sat up. He saw the anxious faces of Kath, Race, Smalls, and Spot, but more important was the face he did not see.

“Davey,” he whispered. “Oh, shit, Davey!”

Jack tangled his hands in his hair, feeling Race’s hands on his shoulder and Kath asking, “Jack? What happened?”

He didn’t want to think about what had happened. He didn’t want to think about them grabbing Davey. God, Jack had tried. He fought those bastards with everything he had in him. But there were just too many of them, and then one of them hit his head with the butt of a sword hard enough to make his ears ring. He’d been knocked flat out. 

“The pirates. They found us, after he found his dust, and they… they grabbed him. They took him.” Jack’s chest heaved. His head, fuck, it was throbbing. 

“Oh my God,” he heard Race saying.

“Why?” Smalls asked.

Jack was hyperventilating. “What do you mean _why?!”_ he shrieked.

Her eyes were troubled. “If it’s you they’re after, why take him?”

He didn’t answer; he stood up, paced in circles, pressed a fist to his mouth despite how much his body wanted to be lying down. “We can’t just stand here. We have to find him. They’ll--God, who knows what they’re going to do to him.”

Kath looked at the others. “Where would they have taken him? Did you see?”

“Back to your ship?” Race suggested.

Spot finally spoke up. “That’s all the way on the other side of the island. Are we really going to undo every bit of progress we’ve made, go back to where you started?”

Jack whirled on him.

“You fucked up,” Race muttered.

Spot threw his hands up as Jack advanced. “What are we going to do, go on without him? How are we supposed to separate the two of us if he ain’t even here? What, is he not worthy of your time? You’d let him get gutted on that pirate ship before you went on a walk to save him?”

“I didn’t say that,” Spot answered, face furrowed. 

Smalls was pressed against Race, watching Jack with huge eyes. Kath, too, seemed lost for words.

“What if he’s not even there? What then?” Smalls asked.

“Then we keep looking,” Jack spat, releasing Spot, who scurried back over to Race and took refuge under his arm.

Kath nodded. “We start back to the ship, then.”

“No,” Jack snapped, still pacing, agitated. “No, we can’t take another week to walk there. That’s too much time.”

“Surely they’ve walked too,” Race reasoned. “They can’t have gotten too far.”

“Are you stupid or what?” Jack growled. “Davey’s got fairy dust on him. You don’t think those pirates are going to take it and use it?”

“You’re a wizard, Kath,” Smalls appealed to her desperately, pulling on her skirt. “Do you have any magic that can help us?”

“Not… not on me,” Katherine said, face creased. “I don’t even have my full wizard title yet. My spellbook and everything are at home.”

They stood and stared at Jack, watching him think. There was an empty space between Katherine and Spot that neither of them moved to fill.

Jack’s eyebrows lifted, slowly. “You’re bandits, yeah?”

Spot, Race, and Smalls glanced at each other. “Yeah,” Race answered carefully.

“You hijacked carriages before?”

Spot crossed his arms over his chest; Race and Smalls grinned at each other. “Leave it to us,” Smalls said.

-

They made their way back to the main road, which they had steered clear of thus far due to fear of the pirates. It was a dusty path, one that got a decent amount of travelers coming down it. It couldn’t be long now. “I can’t help feeling bad,” Katherine muttered from where she was crouched in the bushes next to Jack. “Some innocent person getting hijacked?”

Spot, Race, and Smalls were on the other side of the road, having instructed them to stay out of sight until a carriage came along and they gave the signal. Race had decided the signal would be a bird call, courtesy of his own bird-calling abilities.

“That’s fucking stupid,” Jack had said.

“You wanna go bust a carriage yourself? Sit down,” Race had replied, and long story short, the signal was the fucking stupid bird call.

Jack could not find it within him to feel bad. “I don’t care what it takes. We gotta get Davey back from those pirates.”

“You say that like you’re not a pirate,” Katherine retorted.

She was disturbed by the look in Jack’s eyes, though. She was pretty damn sure he would kill a man if it meant getting Davey back.

A cloud of dust floated over to them, followed by the sound of hoofbeats and the clatter of wheels. Jack and Katherine crouched lower in the bushes, waiting.

The ground shook, then, knocking Katherine off of her crouched position and into a sitting one. “What the--” she started, and Jack pointed to where a rotting tree had fallen across the path. 

“They cut it,” he whispered.

The driver of the carriage took the bait--they climbed out, walked around to the tree blocking their way, and knelt over it in confusion. The bushes on the opposite side of the road parted and Smalls burst out, howling a battle cry and knocking out the carriage driver by hitting him over the head with a bow. 

Spot and Race appeared, and Race lifted his hands to do the bird call signal. He helped Spot up into the carriage, then Smalls. 

Katherine lifted her skirt and sprinted into the road, followed by Jack. The horses were whinnying and shifting anxiously as Race crawled into the driver’s seat.

Jack and Katherine boosted each other up into the back of the carriage. “I call shotgun!” Smalls shouted, and Spot scowled.

“Spot, be a gentleman,” Race called, helping Smalls into the front seat. She stuck her tongue out at Spot as he was forced to squish in with Jack and Kath. 

“Something about you driving makes me real nervous,” Jack said. 

“That’s ridiculous. I’m a _great_ driver,” Race responded, and immediately after saying so nearly collided with a tree trying to turn the carriage around.

There was movement, suddenly, under Katherine’s feet. She turned to Jack. “Do you feel something--” she started, and then yelped when another definitive movement came from underneath a tarp laid across the floor of the carriage.

Spot, Jack, and Katherine all pulled their feet up and grabbed onto each other, then started to scream as whatever was under the tarp pushed it back and crawled out.

It was a person.

Jack, who was between Spot and Kath, clung tighter to Spot. 

“What--” Race tried to say, looking over his shoulder. “What are you screamin’ about?”

The person who’d sat up was a girl, looking not too much older than Smalls. Her eyebrows were furrowed with a ferocity beyond her years. “Will you shut up?” she hissed, swatting at Jack’s arm, which only made him yelp again.

“What are you doing here?” Katherine asked, blinking.

“I think I should be asking you that question,” the girl responded. “Who the hell are you?”

“We kinda hijacked this carriage,” Smalls answered, peeking over the front seats.

“I can see that. What are you, bandits?”

Jack shook his head. “They are. Pirate, wizard--” he stopped where he would have pointed out the fairy in their midst. 

For the first time, the girl’s face flashed with fear. “Pirate?”

“He’s tame,” Katherine responded quickly.

“I guess he must be if he’s afraid of me,” the girl said, grinning.

Jack scowled. “I am not afraid of you.”

“Then why’re you still huggin’ the bandit?”

Jack looked at Spot, and Spot looked at Jack, and they both awkwardly released each other.

Smalls and the girl giggled. Smalls, then, asked, “did you know the driver?”

“No, I snuck on,” she admitted. “I’m just trying to get as far as possible from where I came from.”

“Where’d you come from?” Spot asked.

She looked at him warily. “Who’s to say you won’t turn me in?”

Spot gave her The Spot Look. “Yeah, let me drive my stolen carriage into town to turn you in with my pirate friend in the backseat. Let me just do that.”

Jack put a hand on his heart. “You consider me your friend?”

“Fair. I’m a princess; I’m running from an arranged marriage,” she said.

“Marriage?” Katherine asked. “You look so young.”

“Exactly.”

“Princess?” Smalls looked enchanted. “You live in a castle?”

“I used to.”

“What should we call you, then? You probably don’t wanna tell us your real name.”

“Uh… call me Sniper,” she suggested. “It’s an old nickname.”

“Sounds friendly,” Kath said, and Sniper smiled.

“I’m good with a bow. Where are you all headed, anyway?”

“It’s a long story,” Katherine answered.

Sniper pulled her knees up to her chest, still sitting on the floor. “I’ve got time.”

Jack spoke up. “I met a fairy, and he got assigned to help me find happiness or somethin’--”

“Wait, wait. _He?”_

“Yes, he’s a boy. Shocking, I know. Boy fairy. Yes. Anyway, I told him to beat it ‘cuz I don’t need happiness from any fairy, but he said his magic binds us together and he can’t move on till he finds what I need so we went to find a wizard and that’s Kath but then she needed to get a crystal to become a real wizard and break the bond between me and the fairy and my pirate crew came after us and stole the fairy so now we’re going to get the fairy.”

Sniper raised her eyebrows. “That’s… a lot.”

Spot snorted. “Tell me about it.”

“But, wait. If your fairy--”

Jack frowned. “Why does everyone call him _my_ fairy?”

Race answered from the driver’s seat. “‘Cuz he is.”

Sniper cut off Jack’s argument. “So if you wanna be, er, detached from your fairy so bad, why d’you care about pirates getting him? Doesn’t that just do the job?”

Spot muttered something like “exactly.”

Jack’s face flushed. “He might not be able to find me happiness or whatever cheesy fairy thing he’s s’posed to do, but he’s done enough for me. He doesn’t deserve to just be tossed away like that.”

Sniper raised her eyebrows again but choose not to comment. “All I really need to know is if the place you’re going is far from here.”

“About as far as you can get without leaving the island,” Jack said.

“Perfect.”

They all settled in for the ride.

-

Davey woke up with a pounding pain in his lip and his face digging into a hard, unforgiving surface. He opened his eyes and squinted through the pitch-black darkness he was in.

His whole body hurt. He hauled himself to a sitting position and gingerly touched his lip, finding that it was split.

And everything started to come back. He lowered his hand from his injured face and slouched over himself as he recalled Jack’s shouts of his name, the pirates’ unforgiving grip on his arms, the way Jack crumpled when they hit him and he went so quiet. He searched his aching head for memory of what had happened. 

He’d found his dust, and then they’d been there. “Get the fairy,” the captain had said, and two of the pirates grabbed him. What they’d said after that had been a blur--Davey had been so dazed and horrified only now could he recall what the captain was saying to Jack.

“So, you think you can take off, don’t you? Think you could just split and steal from us and we’d let you go?”

“Listen,” Jack pleaded with him, “I’ll do anything. I’ll get everything back. Just put him down.”

That was it, then. Before they had left, Jack had taken some of the pirates’ loot with them--okay, maybe quite a bit of it, because he had known they were going to be on their own for a while. Of course, even if he hadn’t taken what he did, the crew might have come after him anyway. He had taken an oath when he joined them, and he was bound to that ship for life. If he left, he was a traitor, wasn’t he? He could spill their secrets. He’d broken his contract.

All this was coming to Davey now. In that moment, though, he was nothing but scared. “See, you can get every bit of gold back,” the captain responded, “but it won’t make up for what you’ve done. A traitor--that’s what you are. You can’t pledge your life to us and then one day decide you don’t want to do it anymore.”

Jack had no more words. Davey remembered that. He had never seen Jack Kelly speechless, but he looked at the pirates holding Davey and did not know what to say.

“We could kill you, Kelly,” the captain said casually. “We could end you right here for betraying us the way you did.”

Davey had looked at Jack, had wanted to scream for him to run. He could run; the pirates weren’t holding him. Why wasn’t he running? Since when did Jack care about saving anyone’s ass but his own? 

“But I don’t think that’s a suitable punishment. You wouldn’t suffer, then--all you’d do is die. So here’s what we’ll do,” the captain continued, circling back to Davey and snatching the bottle of fairy dust out of his hand. “We’ll take this fairy of yours. We’ll use him to get back everything you stole--this fairy dust goes for plenty, doesn’t it?--and leave you to think about the fact that you cost him his life by doing what you did.”

“You bastard,” Jack had hissed, and his hand went to his sword. “You sick, evil--”

“What are you going to do? Kill me?”

“I will. I’ll kill you. You hurt one hair on that fairy’s head and I’ll--”

“Oh, it’s not just the fairy. I think just maybe we’ll make Crutchie pay, too--”

That did it. Jack whipped out his sword and ran at them, straight for the pirates restraining Davey, and started swinging. He got a few hits in and their grip was just loosening, just enough for Davey to get away when he began to struggle, but then there were more. The pirates were everywhere, and more hands were holding him and more hands held Jack and with a sickening thud his eyes rolled back in his head and for all his senseless bravery, he fell unconscious on the ground.

Davey panted hard, unable to move. Somewhere he heard a voice say, “Knock him out, too,” and then a cloth came over his lips and nose until everything went white before going so dark.

Now, he hugged his knees to his chest and resisted the urge to start rocking back and forth. 

Deep inside, of course, he knew he must be alone. That didn’t stop him from croaking into the darkness, “Jack?” The sound of his own voice stunned him; it was nothing more than a squeak. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Is anyone there?” 

He was alone. 

He decided to stand up, try and figure out exactly what sort of dark space he was in. After dragging himself to his feet, he reached up his arm and felt his fingertips brush a roof. He stamped his foot; the ground sounded like wood. He was on a pirate ship, then. He had to be. He listened—all he heard was the ringing of his own ears and, faintly, the sound of the sea.

He felt around his neck, dug through his pockets vainly for the bottle of fairy dust he knew they’d taken. When he didn’t find it, he let his back thump against the wall and sunk back down onto the floor. 

All he’d been trying to do was his job, and where had that gotten him? Here he was, trapped in a pirate ship and surely about to be killed or tortured all because he couldn’t help some stupid pirate. There was no way anyone would rescue him—hadn’t that been their entire goal, to get rid of each other? Jack had gotten what he wanted.

Davey didn’t realize he was crying until his breath skipped. He wiped his eyes roughly and told himself to stop being such a wimp, this wasn’t worth crying over, but he couldn’t stop the tears. He let them come, shivering and hiccuping, until eventually he laid his head back down and drifted off to sleep.

-

If Race’s driving was unnerving, Spot’s driving was saying a prayer every five minutes because you were certain it was the end.

Sniper and Katherine didn’t seem to mind, but Jack clung to the seat beneath him as they went speeding over the dirt road faster than he even knew horses could move. 

Race noticed him holding on and smirked.

“Don’t you start,” Jack grumbled.

“Took me a while to get used to. I ain’t judgin’.” He glanced at Kath, Sniper, and Smalls, who were all talking, then lowered his voice. “So what did them pirates really take Davey for? Did the say anything or just snatch him?”

“They…” Jack sighed. “They said because I split and took loot with me, they was gonna use him to get back what I stole instead of killing me. Thought it was a better punishment.”

Race’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t say anything.

“I tried fighting ‘em off, but there were too many. They knocked me out and took off with him.” Jack looked up at Race, eyes glowing with fear. “You don’t think… I mean they can’t have busted him up too bad yet.”

“Nah,” Race reassured him, though he couldn’t be sure of it.

Jack just stared past him, into the trees that whizzed past. “Hey,” Race said, snapping his fingers in front of his face. “We’re gonna get him back.”

Jack smiled tightly. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

Race shifted away from Jack, over to Sniper and Smalls. Katherine took his place, blinking worriedly at Jack. “You alright?”

“Fine,” Jack spat, with extra venom to make up for his vulnerability. Kath saw through it and let the harsh tone bounce off. She leaned back against the seats and looked at the back of his head until he glanced back at her, scowling. “What?”

“Why do you want to get him back?” she asked. “This whole time you’ve been so set on getting rid of him.”

“‘Cuz…” Jack faltered, wringing his hands in his lap. “You tell anyone I told you and I’ll kill you, but I care about him. And because it’s my fault he got taken.”

Katherine bit her lip. “You know, I think he’s trying to set us up.”

“Me and you?” Jack asked.

“Yeah.”

They glanced at each other slowly, and then busted out laughing.

“God, can you imagine?” she asked.

“I can, but I don’t wanna. Why would he wanna set us up?”

“I dunno. But Spot was asking me if you and I had a thing going, and when I asked why he’d think that he said it’s what Davey told him.”

Jack knitted his eyebrows. “Huh.”

“I’ve got someone, anyways,” Katherine admitted. “Back home.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jack asked.

“Yeah. She’s a fairy, you know, too. She’s sweet.” Katherine looked over at Jack again and grinned. “Can I tell you something kind of weird?”

“Try me. I’ve been through a lot today.”

“I think Davey has a thing for you.”

Jack could do nothing but stare at her in shock for a few seconds. “Why are you the second person to say something like that to me?”

“He just… dunno, he just looks at you like he’s crazy about you.”

“That’s ridiculous. We’ve only known each other, what, for a week? And besides, I’m not exactly his type.”

“What’s his type?”

“Not pirates?”

“You aren’t technically a pirate, Jack. If you were, you’d be the same as the guys who took Davey.”

“Still. You’re seein’ things.”

She shrugged. “Told you it was kind of weird.”

“Damn right it is.” Jack idly touched the sword in his belt and looked up at the sky. He sent out a message into the blue of it silently. _Keep breathin’ wherever you are out there. I’m coming. I promise._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment if you wish, they are very encouraging and nice!!! also, as always, there is a rebloggable post on my tumblr @livingchancy :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hola! god okay i'd like to warn ya before going in: i just wrote this WHOLE THING in like 2 hours because i got inspo. its one am i have not read this over even once i am running on valentines day candy right now so you are going into a mess my friends. okay you have been warned. our heroes go on a rescue pplan. Gasp.

Davey was woken up again by the boom and scrape of a heavy door opening. 

A slice of light slid across the floor as it shut again behind whoever had entered. Their footsteps rang out through the pitch blackness. Certain he was about to be beaten up or tortured in some way, Davey shifted across the wall to cower in the corner.

The person’s silhouette was strange; he didn’t have time to analyze it, though, because a voice cut through the gloom.

“Hey, is that you back in the corner?” The figure advanced, and Davey realized that the strange outline around the silhouette was a pair of crutches. “It’s me, Jack’s friend. You’re the fairy, right? I ain’t gonna hurt ya.”

“Is it really?” Davey asked cautiously.

“Yeah.”

“Are you a prisoner too?”

“No. Not yet.” The pirate laughed bitterly. “I wanted to check up on you while I still can.”

Davey shifted forward and shook his shoulders, sprouting his wings. He couldn’t shrink to fairy size without his dust, but he could do this. The blue glow was almost blinding after all the darkness he’d endured. The pirate’s eyes were huge, illuminated by azure sparkles. 

“What was your name again?” Davey asked as soon as his vision had adjusted.

“Crutchie,” came the answer.

Davey furrowed his eyebrows, his voice still weak. “That seems harsh.”

Crutchie shrugged. “It used to be an insult. I decided to own it.” He was still looking at Davey’s wings in astonishment. “So you really are a fairy. Can I…?”

Davey spread his wings out a bit further. “Knock yourself out, just don’t touch.”

Crutchie shifted closer and studied them. “Can you fly?”

“Yep.”

“Wish I could fly.”

Davey sighed. “If I get my dust back I might be able to help you do it sometime.”

Crutchie looked back up at Davey’s face. “They get Jack, too?” 

“No, just me,” Davey murmured, and he felt like crying all over again. “Said it was a better punishment if they only took me.”

Crutchie frowned. “That’s a rotten deal. I’m real sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“I might be in your boat, soon.” Crutchie and Davey stared at each other for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to acknowledge the pun, before Crutchie continued, “I’m getting some funny looks myself. Look, I can’t stay here for very long, but I’ll come back and visit you sometimes, okay? There’s gotta be a way to get you outta here.”

Davey smiled weakly. “Thanks,” he whispered. “Hey, speaking of boats--are we moving? Or docked?”

“Docked as of now,” Crutchie replied.

They sat quietly for a few moments, listening to the push and pull of the ocean. “I oughta take off,” Crutchie finally said, pushing himself forward off the wall.

“I’m sorry,” Davey said. “For, you know, takin’ your pirate. Leaving you high and dry.”

Crutchie shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I already was high and dry. Still am, but I’m going to help get you out of here.”

Davey watched him go and eventually retracted his wings, resigning himself to the idea of loneliness. There was no point in light if you had no one to share it with.

He thought about Jack after he’d had his nightmare, and what Spot had said about it. God, if only. He tried to comfort himself with the memory, but it only cut him fresh; he was probably never going to see Jack again. Angry suddenly, he stood and kicked the wall, hard. 

His boot made a hollow thump against the wood. If they were going to do something to him, he’d rather they just get it over with. He let out the sound rattling inside his chest, a strangled sob, and tangled his hands in his hair as he sunk back down to a sitting position.

His lip still hurt to high heaven, and now his foot did, too. Out of curiosity, he crawled up to the door and pulled on it, which he hadn’t even thought to try until now.

It was locked.

Suddenly he wanted pain. He pounded the lock with his fist, gritting his teeth as the skin on his knuckles split. It felt gratifying, like he was being reminded he did know how to feel. He continued pounding the door, grunting with effort, until he felt bruised and then looked at his hands. The blood welling up on the peaks of his knuckles calmed him in a bizarre way.

He walked back to the middle of his prison and stood there, not wanting to sit again. 

He had pain. Now what did he want?

He wanted to be out of here. He wanted to be at home with his sister and brother and parents. He wanted to go back to a month before this, when he was doing his job and succeeding at it. He wanted Jack and Katherine to bust down the door and come save him, even though he knew it wasn’t happening.

Just as he was getting ready to sit again, the door rattled. He whipped around, not even having time to cower before a pirate entered. It was not Crutchie. It was a tall brute of a guy with a scar on his face, and he growled, “Get out here, fairy. Fun’s starting.”

-

 

They took turns sleeping, because Jack absolutely refused to stop at any point. Katherine had just finished driving for a while and was passed out across the back seats, her head in Jack’s lap and her feet in Sniper’s. Smalls was sitting between Sniper and Jack, her head lolling on Sniper’s shoulder as she, too, slept.

Spot and Race talked in the front seats. “We’s getting close,” Spot called over his shoulder to Jack. “The end of the forest is right up here. Your ship’s on the beach, yeah?”

Jack perked up considerably. “We almost there?”

“That’s what I damn said, ain’t it?” Spot muttered. Race elbowed him.

“You got a plan, pirate?” Sniper asked.

Jack looked at her. “Not… really. All I know is I need backup.”

“You expect me to go on a pirate ship when you ain’t got a plan?” Spot asked. “Forget that.”

“We’ll think of somethin’,” Jack said. “I don’t think you know what I’m capable of when it comes to that fairy.”

“We don’t even know if he’s on there, do we?” Sniper asked.

“He’s gotta be,” Race answered.

They broke out of the trees. The whiteness of the sand loomed over a hill, and Spot clicked at the horses until they slowed to a stop. “Not goin’ further until we got an action plan.”

Jack shook Katherine, pointed out the window. “We’re pretty much here.”

“About time,” Smalls groaned, stretching her arms above her head. They’d been driving for two days.

Jack had to agree. Every moment of not knowing whether Davey was safe had been an agony.

“So what’re we gonna do, run on there and wave some sticks?” Race asked.

Katherine looked at Jack. “You got any idea where they might be keeping him?”

“Surely in… well, they got little storage rooms where they keep prisoners sometimes. I can’t think of anywhere else they’d put him. The cabins might be worth checking, too.”

“So,” Katherine said, “we’ll split. The sun’s setting now--let’s go when it’s dark, and we’ll split into groups. There are…” she counted. “There are six of us. I say Jack, Spot, and me will go--”

“Wait,” Spot said. “I wanna be with Race.”

Race blinked at him. “Really?”

“To keep your ass outta trouble,” Spot said.

“I can keep his ass outta trouble,” Jack replied. 

“Race, Jack, and Sniper, can you guys be in a group?” Katherine asked, glancing around at them.

“I’m down,” Sniper said.

Race smiled at Spot and gave him an overdramatic kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be fine on my own, darling.”

Spot wiped off the kiss. “You better be.”

-

They took the carriage into town, knowing they had to get a few more weapons and wait until nightfall. Spot, Jack, Katherine, and Sniper were armed, but Race and Smalls were not. 

Spot leapt out of the driver’s seat and helped Race down to the ground. Sniper helped Smalls, and Katherine helped Jack. 

She was eyeing him in amusement. “What?” Jack finally asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing. Just remembering you in that dress.”

Jack’s mouth twitched. “Simpler times, huh?”

Katherine glanced at the others, who were crowding around a blacksmith’s shop, and lowered her voice. “Do you really think we can do this?”

“I don’t know,” Jack responded, truthfully. “But we gotta try.”

Katherine squared her shoulders. “Yeah.”

Jack swallowed hard, looking at the ground. “You don’t think… I mean, he’s gotta be alive… Right? He’s gotta be.”

Kath didn’t say anything but grabbed his hand and squeezed.

“If he were to…” Jack trailed off, sighing shakily and looking at the sky. He couldn’t bring himself to say the word. “He won’t. He _won’t.”_

“Come on,” Katherine said, still holding his hand. “Let’s go pick out some deadly weapons for children.”

-

Night fell faster than Jack wanted it to. Smalls was ecstatic about having her own sword, as was Race, and they ran around yelling in a way that simultaneously terrified and disappointed Spot, who watched them like their father. 

“Hey,” Jack said when the sun disappeared behind the sea, “I’m gonna go to the ship first, okay?”

Katherine and Sniper looked at him in alarm. “What?” Sniper asked. “Why?”

“No way,” Kath was saying at the same time. “You are _not.”_

“I gotta make sure it’s safe. It’s just… it’ll make me feel better about dragging you all into this if I have a moment, okay?”

Katherine stood, staring at him. They were both stubborn as all hell--she knew that. They could go back and forth for years if their pride demanded it. 

This, though, was different. When it came to Davey, Jack’s stubbornness had the upper hand. She couldn’t stop him going to that ship if she got all five of the others to physically restrain him.

Instead, she gave him a tight hug. “Be safe.”

When he pulled back, he held her gaze for a few moments, squeezed her hands, and gave her a firm nod. Then, he turned on his heel and started out of the village.

Sniper watched him go. “He’s crazy over that fairy.”

Katherine sighed. “He’s crazy about most things.”

Sniper glanced at Smalls and Race, who were arguing over who had won their last play-fight as Spot tried to resolve it peacefully. “That fairy, though. I don’t know. There’s something scary in his eyes about it.”

-

The ship loomed wide and dark on the horizon, glittering amidst the roar of the tide. Jack stopped in the soft sand, looking up at it. He knew he should turn around--he’d done what he needed, taken a walk to clear his head and seen the ship. His feet continued moving, though, until he was standing by the small window his room had offered.

He stretched on tiptoe and peeked through. As he surveyed the emptiness of what had formerly been his living quarters, the door opened and feet pounded down the steps into the room.

Heart racing, Jack dropped down into a crouch and prayed whoever was inside hadn’t seen him. No such luck--above him, the window creaked open.

“Jack?” a voice hissed.

The breath was stuck in his chest. He stayed crouched where he was, waiting.

“Jack, you there?” The voice was louder the second time, and it was unmistakable. Jack looked up. Crutchie was leaning over the window, wide-eyed and looking down at him in the sand. 

“Crutchie,” he said, and they both laughed in astonishment to see each other. 

“You came back. I--I saw you walkin’ through the sand,” Crutchie laughed, clearly not knowing how to express his happiness.

Jack wanted to hug him but the window was too small. Instead, he reached up and grabbed his hand. “How you been?”

“I’m alright,” Crutchie said, grinning weakly. “They ain’t hurt me ‘cuz of you yet, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Jack exhaled in relief, still gripping at Crutchie’s hand for dear life. “Look, I wanna say so much to you but there isn’t time,” he whispered. “I came here lookin’--is--did they bring a fairy on this ship? Didja see?”

Crutchie looked sad all of a sudden, and Jack’s heart began to pound. “Yeah, Jack, they did. They beat him up somethin’ awful last night. Didn’t kill him, but he’s hurt real bad. I went and talked to him a couple days ago but not since then.”

Jack’s heart seized up in his chest before he sprang into action. “Where’re they keepin’ him?”

“One of the cellars, down under the bow. With the big locks under the doors. Are you gonna--”

Jack bit his lip, glanced around, then focused back up to the window. “Crutchie, can you help me? Rescue him? I got some more friends comin’, but we need your help if we’re gonna do this. Are all the crew on the ship right now?”

Crutchie blinked, suddenly all business. “As far as I know, yeah. Most of ‘em are sleeping. They got two pirates guarding the cellars--the keys to them rooms are with whoever’s guarding, probably.”

With one last squeeze of Crutchie’s hand, Jack took off across the sand.

-

Smalls, Race, Spot, Sniper, and Kath were waiting for him just outside the village. They sprang up when he returned, watching him with nervous eyes. Race even hugged him. “We thought something happened,” he gasped.

“I saw Crutchie, one of my friends from my crew. He told me where the pirates are keepin’ Davey.” Jack beckoned them all closer until they stood in a circle, huddling together. “Listen. I got a plan.”

-

Race sprang up the ladder and went clattering onto the deck of the ship, shrieking at the top of his lungs. “I’ve been stabbed! Help! I’m bleeding, I’m bleeding out! I was attacked!”

“How’d I know he was the best person for this job,” Katherine muttered as he fell over with a massive thump, still shrieking.

Jack watched from his hiding place with Kath, behind a set of barrels full of gunpowder. Across the deck, Sniper’s eyes gleamed from her hideout, a pile of rope. 

One of the pirates on guard pushed open the trapdoor leading down to the cellars and stared at Race. Other pirates were emerging, too, from their cabins and posts, roused by the commotion Race was causing. He gasped and reached out for the pirate on guard, grabbing at his hand. “I’m bleeding,” he wailed.

At last, the moment they had been awaiting came--the captain emerged, scowling. “What the hell is this?” 

The crew crowded around Race, arguing loudly. Smalls slipped out of her hiding spot, a tiny blur making her way across the dark deck. Spot leaned over from his position, right next to the door leading down to the captain’s quarters, and opened it. They both dropped down out of sight, and Jack heard a noise--drowned out by the yelling--as they took one unfortunate pirate down.

Race was doing a hell of a job keeping the attention on him. He grabbed onto one pirate’s foot, bringing him falling onto the floor beside him. “I was mugged on the road!” he whined. “I got stabbed, look, I’m bleedin’--”

Jack nodded at Kath, then began to scoot closer to the bow where Davey was being kept. 

Smalls’s head reappeared through the trap door. She held up the keys, triumphant. Sniper took her cue and aimed her bow, shooting an arrow straight into the crowd of pirates and through one’s chest. He fell, dead, as the others shouted in alarm and astonishment. 

Race stood and whipped out his sword. He brought it down hard anywhere he could reach and managed to knock out two of the pirates with the dull end of it. Sniper shot another.

In the midst of the chaos, Spot and Smalls reemerged and tossed the keys a few yards’ distance to Katherine, who caught them. The pirates were holding Race by the arms and looking around for Sniper; it was Jack’s turn to be the distraction.

“Hey!” Jack shrieked, leaping to his feet and waving his hands. The still-standing pirates (which decreased as Sniper shot yet another arrow) gaped. 

The captain’s face contorted in rage at the sight of him. “After him!” he bellowed at his crew, and they obeyed. 

Jack flew across the deck, blood roaring in his ears and heart pounding as he launched himself off the ship into the sand. He ran for his life, hearing the sound of pirates behind him tearing through the sand. Sniper and Spot would be after them, if things had gone to plan. Once he was far enough away, he turned around and unsheathed his sword.

Sure enough, Sniper was shooting arrows and Spot wielded a spear. The pirates didn’t stand a chance, still shocked and moving slowly from sleep. They might have been less, but Jack’s own little crew was filled with enough adrenaline and vengeance to fight off ten thousand men. 

Jack especially ripped through them, knocking as many as he could unconscious. He did not kill anyone--he left that to Spot and Sniper--but he did his share.

The pirates lay in a heap in the sand when they were finished. Spot and Sniper stood and panted for a moment, each of them covered in cuts and bruises. “That’s that,” Jack gasped, leaning over on his knees. Sniper let out a slightly delirious laugh as they began to limp back to the ship.

Katherine and Race were sparring with the remaining pirates, and the captain was nowhere to be seen. Spot, no matter how beat up he was, fell into battle beside Race eagerly. “Go!” Kath shouted to Jack. “Smalls is down there with the keys.”

Jack ran to the trap door and dropped down into the small, dark hallway lined with cellars. Crutchie was down there, attempting each key on the ring Smalls had found. Smalls was on the guard’s back, arms locked around his neck in a chokehold. He staggered around, trying to pry her off and yelling curses.

Crutchie grinned breathlessly at Jack as he lifted his sword and knocked the guard clean out. Smalls landed delicately on the floor and blinked at Jack, eyes glowing. “The others gone?”

Jack smirked at her. “We made quick work’a them,” he answered, and they fist-bumped. He turned to Crutchie, who was still trying the keys.

“Hey,” Crutchie said, accepting a hug from Jack without looking up from his task. “I gotta be getting close…”

Jack’s stomach exploded in butterflies. He knelt on the wooden ground, remembering what Crutchie had said about Davey being hurt, and thought he might explode waiting to get to him.

“This one!” Crutchie whisper-shouted, pumping the air with a fist as the key slid in the lock. 

Jack flung the door open and practically threw himself down the stairs into the small prison. “Davey!” he shouted, fumbling through the darkness. “Davey, I’m here!”

“Jack?” he heard weakly from the corner. He turned to see the fairy blinking up at him, with a split lip and plenty of injuries on his face.

His heart dropped into his stomach with both relief and anger. “Davey,” he repeated, sliding to the ground next to the fairy. “Oh my God, oh my God,” he chanted, slipping his arms under Davey’s and pulling him into a massive embrace.

As strange as it was, he felt angry. “Davey!” he shouted, giving him a little shake. “Davey, you scared the hell outta me, you--God, you had me so messed up over you. Don’t you do that to me.”

Davey was really only half-conscious. He swayed against Jack’s chest, his voice airy. 

“You came for me,” he croaked.

Jack pulled back from him, arms still locked around him. The anger dissolved. He looked like so much hell, his face all beat up, and as much as Jack hated himself for it he felt tears coming on. “Course I did.”

“I thought you…” Davey started, bewildered. “I thought you _wanted_ to get rid of me.”

Jack pressed his face into Davey’s hair, squeezing him tight enough to make him hiss “ouch” in his ear on account of his injuries. “Not like that,” he said. “You thought I would just go and leave you like that? Come on. You still--” he laughed a little. “You still gotta find me what I need. You can’t die on me, fairy. I won’t letcha.”

Davey curled closer to Jack and squeezed his eyes shut. “You came for me,” he repeated, drowsy with sheer relief. “I can’t believe you--”

“Hey, hey, shut it,” Jack said. “Don’t keep tryin’ to talk. We’ll get you patched up. You’ll be fine.”

He made a move to get up and carry Davey, but he was still in pain, too. His legs wobbled and he fell back on the ground, clinging to the fairy for dear life. “Maybe we can sit for a sec,” he breathed.

-

The others made their way down to the cellars eventually, when all the fighting was done.

Spot, Race, and Sniper stayed with Spot in the corridor outside, but Katherine needed to see Davey. She pushed open the heavy door and paused at the sight that greeted her--Jack sat against the wall, grip firm around Davey, who was cuddled up against his chest, eyes closed. 

She limped over to them and sank down on the ground beside them. Jack gave her a ragged grin and touched her hand.

She looked at Davey--beat up to hell and back but safe in Jack’s arms.

“We did it, huh?”

“Yeah,” Jack murmured into the fairy’s hair. “We did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW that was eventful! so the scoop is that i'm going for weekly thursday updates (besides the surprise ch 4 on tuesday) so look out for me on thursdays!  
> as i always always always say, here is the rebloggable post if youre likin this dump: https://livingchancy.tumblr.com/post/170935117972/livingchancy-lovely-bitter-water-newsies-word  
> and leave comments! if u desire!!! comments make my LIFE okay gudbye


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gday! itsss a (very late) thursday update. jack and davey take care of each other a lot. here we go

“Ow.”

“Hold still!”

_“Ow!”_

“Sorry.”

“No you ain’t,” Race muttered, flinching as Spot continued cleaning out a wound on his side. Sniper was helping Smalls with her injuries, too, untying the cloth holding her hair back and using it as a makeshift tourniquet. When Spot was satisfied that the large scrape was clean, he tugged Race’s shirt back down. 

“Don’t touch it ‘till we can wrap it up,” he said, roughly ruffling Race’s hair as he sulked.

Katherine emerged out of Davey’s prison into the dark hallway they were still waiting in, Crutchie and Jack in tow. Jack held the unconscious fairy, who had passed out cold and hard as ice. 

“Everyone alright?” Crutchie checked, looking between them. Kath did a headcount, then nodded.

Jack was struggling mildly with the weight of the fairy but clearly didn’t plan to put him down for anything. “You sure he’s okay?” he fussed to Crutchie. “We shouldn’t, er, revive him?”

Crutchie shook his head. “He just hasn’t slept in a few days. I’m sure now that he feels safe again he’s gonna sleep for a good long time.” He gave Jack a crooked smile. “Remember how long I slept when you and I started bein’ friends? And you finally helped with my nightmares?”

Jack sighed as Davey’s head fell onto his shoulder. “I have a thing for damsels, I guess.”

Katherine turned to Jack. “We should find someplace safe and get patched up.” She said it more loudly, to the others. “Let’s get somewhere safe and clean ourselves up.”

They made their way above deck. It was still dark, the moon a white slice across the inky blackness. Gingerly they picked their way through the motionless bodies of pirates scattered across the deck. Spot, at the head of the long line, paused when he reached the ladder leading down to sand. “Wait,” he said, turning back to them with a wild grin, “I have an idea.”

All of them blinked uneasily at him. 

“We took over this ship,” Spot said, gesturing to the emptiness around them. “We earned our right to it. There are no more pirates left to tell us what to do.”

“‘Cept me,” Crutchie said, smiling.

“So? We conquered the ship. That’s what we came here for,” Sniper said.

Spot crossed his arms. “Are you people telling me you wanna go back down there and go on foot or carriage to the other end of the island when we could take this pirate ship?”

Jack’s eyes went wide. “They’d kill us. Are you kidding me? You think they hated me before--”

“And we chased ‘em off this time! They didn’t know what hit ‘em. Hell, there’s eight of us here now. Eight! That’s the size of our own little pirate crew, ain’t it?” Spot held out his arms excitedly. “If they come after us again--which they stand no chance without their ship--we could beat ‘em into the ground all over again.”

Katherine was nodding. “He’s got a point.”

“I always do,” Spot answered, rolling his eyes.

Race glanced behind him. “Problem; there are still some pirates on the ship.”

“So we drag ‘em into the sand,” Smalls answered.

Spot grinned and ruffled her hair. “Now we’re talkin’.”

They all turned to Jack, though, before doing anything. He tightened his hold on the fairy in his arms and nodded, slowly. “Let’s do it,” he said. “Let’s take this bitchin’ pirate ship and get that crystal in style.”  


-

Smalls, Sniper, and Race dragged the remaining pirates off of the ship while Crutchie, Spot, and Kath searched below deck for any hidden ones. Jack took Davey down to his former cabin and set him on his cot, laying his cloak over him for a blanket. 

Katherine poked her head in; Crutchie stuck his head below hers and Spot (somehow) above. “All clear,” she said. “You comin’ out?”

Jack glanced up. “Crutch, will you be okay to teach ‘em the ropes?”

Spot rolled his eyes. “There’s no need--” he started, and Katherine put her hand over his mouth before he started a fight.

Crutchie snapped a salute. “I got it, Jack. Don’t you worry.”

Jack smiled at him. “You’re the greatest.”

“I know I am. C’mon, Spot, let’s get this show on the road,” Crutchie called. Both of their heads disappeared and their footsteps echoed up above as they hurried away. Jack couldn’t help but laugh--Spot could try to be in charge, but the only person among them who could be anything like the captain of this ship was Crutchie.

Rather than following them, Katherine came down into the cabin and looked around curiously. “So this is where you stayed, huh?” she asked, running a hand over the wall.

“Yep. Home sweet home,” he grunted, sinking down to sit on the floor.

She followed suit, casting a quick glance at Davey to ensure he was still alive. “Want me to help clean you up?” she asked, already reaching into her bag.

The tide of adrenaline was lowering now, and it left him acutely aware that essentially his entire body hurt. “Please. You in pain, too?”

“Oh, it feels like my limbs are dissembling,” she answered brightly, pulling out a handkerchief and wetting it. 

He laughed. “Smilin’ through it?”

“Like I always do.” She began to wipe at a nasty cut on the side of his neck. He shut his eyes and bit his tongue and hissed through the sting. “Sorry,” she apologized quickly, moving onto his scraped arms and hands, occasionally rinsing off the small cloth. “If we had Davey’s fairy dust we could fix this right up.”

“It must be on the ship somewhere,” Jack mused, shutting his eyes to let her get at a wound above his eyebrow. “If they didn’t sell it already.” He shook his head. “They sure as hell weren’t expecting to see me come back for him. They just wanted to use him to get their gold back.”

“Their faces were pretty great, huh?” She asked, grinning at him. “When they saw you?”

Jack did an impression, making a horrified face; they laughed, and then they laughed some more just because it felt so good to do it.

-

“That’s gonna be a couple days’ trip on a ship, my best guess,” Crutchie decided. They were crowded over a map; Spot, Jack, Crutchie, Kath, Race, Smalls, and Sniper.

Spot nodded. “Smooth sailing?”

“Should be. We can take a couple of shortcuts just to make sure them other pirates aren’t on our tails, but it should be alright.” Crutchie had already showed the others how to get the ship going, untie it from the dock, take down the sails--all they had to do now was steer. 

He leaned over the wheel, stretching on his toes to better see the ocean water surrounding them. “What’ll we do?” Sniper asked, her arm linked with Smalls’ and her eyes nervous. “If the pirates come after us?”

“How could they possibly?” Spot pointed out.

“If they get another ship somehow,” Kath mused.

“We killed half of ‘em anyway,” Race reasoned, though his face flickered with anxiety.

Spot shook his head. “Stop talkin’ nonsense, all of you. We’ll be fine. Now let’s get this show on the road. Crutchie, divide up the jobs, yeah?”

Jack slipped out of the crowd--they didn’t even notice in their arguing--and headed back down to Davey.

-

The sun was rising when Davey finally woke. Jack had found an actual blanket with the help of Crutchie and was beside him on the cot underneath it, watching him closely.

Davey’s eyes opened slowly; he was facing away from Jack, so at first all he saw was the dark wooden wall and he thought, his heart sinking, he was still where he’d been.

Just as he was preparing to sink back into miserable sleep, he faintly heard someone making soothing shushing noises. He turned slowly onto his back, grimacing at the pain that wracked his body when he moved, and touched the quilt that had been thrown over him. 

Jack was there, his gaze worried and dark. He grinned widely when he saw that Davey’s eyes were open. “Hey,” he said in an achingly soft voice, “welcome back.”

Davey looked up at him, dazed and tired and so dizzy with relief he couldn’t even speak. Instead, he pressed his face into the bag under his head and took a few long breaths. He felt Jack’s hand on his back, first hovering there with a solid pressure and then beginning to move in comforting patterns.

Jack kept talking, either sensing that Davey was unable to or plain unable to keep his mouth shut for more than two minutes. Either way, Davey was glad to have the silence filled. “I was just sleepin’, but then I heard you kinda mumbling in your sleep so I got ready to wake you up if you were having another nightmare. You know.” He looked embarrassed suddenly, letting his hand slide off Davey’s back and onto the blanket. 

Davey’s mouth curled, just a bit, into a smile. “Thank you,” he whispered, and they both knew what really for.

“You didn’t really think I’d just leave you?” Jack asked. Davey could tell by the shine in his eyes that it was a thought that’d been troubling him.

He tucked his arm beneath his head and looked away. “I mean… the whole goal was to get away from each other. I figured, why would you go to all the trouble if you technically got what you were after?”

Jack didn’t say anything but reached out and hugged Davey again. When he gave him a chance to pull back, Davey instead leaned his head against the solid slope of Jack’s shoulder. He seemed surprised but accepted it, letting his own cheek fall into Davey’s hair.

“It means a lot, you know,” Davey murmured. “That you came and found me. It means the world.”

“It meant the world to find you,” Jack replied in a mumble, clearly embarrassed. Davey couldn’t help an exasperated smile; the damn pirate couldn’t be sincere for two seconds. “They beat you up too bad? You wanna get patched up?”

Davey shook his head, rubbing his face against the material of Jack’s shirt. “Mmm...right now I want to sleep for a month.”

Davey felt the rise and fall when Jack laughed. “Do it, then. I could use some more myself.”

“Wait,” Davey said, because it’d only occurred to him now. “Where are we?”

“My ship,” Jack answered, grinning. “We kicked all the pirates off it, so finders keepers. We’re taking it to that crystal whatever place.”

Davey sighed softly. “You can tell me everything later,” he mumbled, sliding down in Jack’s grasp but not ready to leave it; instead, he curled up in his new spot on Jack’s chest. “Will you… do that some more?” he rushed out in a flustered voice.

“Hmm?”

“My back. I dunno. It’s stupid but--it’s nice. I need just a little help gettin’ to sleep.”

Jack didn’t reply with words, but he placed a hand between Davey’s shoulder blades and moved his thumb back and forth. With Davey’s bruises and cuts and scrapes still pounding, it didn’t take long before he was passed out again. 

“G’night,” Jack whispered, his hand going still. 

He knew he was gonna be stuck sitting here for some time, so he slouched against the wall and got comfortable (as slowly as possible so as not to disturb the fairy on top of him). He didn’t mind. He’d sit in one spot for years, he thought, as long as he knew Davey was safe.

And he did. 

“I ain’t gonna let anything getcha,” Jack informed the unresponsive human in his grasp, softly. “You know that, right? Whatever it is has gotta go through me first.”

“That’s sweet,” said a voice from the doorway. Jack jolted, then scowled when he saw none other than a very smug-looking Spot entering the cabin.

“What do you want?” he asked in a low voice, rolling his eyes.

“Just makin’ sure you two are alive.”

Jack grinned. “Almost.”

Spot took in Jack’s position and crossed his arms over his chest. “Not a thing, huh?”

“Not a thing,” Jack affirmed.

“Well, I ain’t accusing you of anything, but… I’m pretty crazy about Race and I wouldn’t sit still for hours to let him sleep on me.”

Jack looked down at Davey again and felt his tense stance toward Spot drop. How in the hell could he bring himself to move when Davey looked like that, so peaceful? It was the same reason he’d always felt bad waking him up. “Spot,” he groaned, “why you gotta take the piss?”

“Look,” the bandit responded, “I’m gonna tell you something that you might not like but that someone’s gotta say. I think you got a thing for that fairy. For real.”

“Why would you even…”

Spot looked like he wanted to laugh. “Are you seriously asking me that as he’s snugglin’ with you? Listen, I ain’t no expert on love and things--”

“You’re quite honestly the opposite, so why don’t you--”

“But I know the universe don’t make mistakes,” Spot cut right back in. “Look, it sent him to you for a reason. That’s all I’m saying. The way you acted when he got stolen--that was when I knew for sure. You might be willing to fight for any friend of yours, but the way you saved him was something else.”

Jack’s eyebrows were drawn together. “Are you done?”

Spot put his hands up in surrender. “End of speech.”

Jack let his hand slide off Davey’s shoulder and down his arm. “If all the nonsense you’re spittin’ was true, which it isn’t, it wouldn’t matter. He doesn’t feel that way about me.”

Spot smirked a little. “Jack,” he said, taking a step forward, “you and me are alike.”

Jack quirked an eyebrow, and Spot laughed. “I’m serious. I mean, I’m insultin’ myself here, but we are. We don’t do well with emotions and things and we gotta be tough, and maybe we aren’t so experienced when it comes to caring and so when I look at you I can tell how it would show when you cared about someone… you know? ‘Cuz that’s me, too.”

He bit his lip. “And I’m not like Davey. In case you couldn’t tell. But, I see that he feels safe with you, and I can tell that’s how he shows his care. I mean, look at him, beat up to the moon and back but all ready to be cuddly with you. I think that you make him feel secure, and he doesn’t feel secure a whole lot.”

Davey shifted in his sleep and let out a tiny whine.

Jack shook his head. “You’re seeing things.”

“Or you’re not.” Spot shrugged. “Come up above when you’re ready; we just started on our way. Crutchie’s holdin’ down the fort, but we miss you up there. I mean--they do. Not me, of course.”

“Of course,” Jack repeated, grinning.

When Spot was gone, he looked down at Davey. He thought about things. It didn’t matter, he told himself, because Kath was splitting them up anyway, but that raised new questions. What was he gonna do when she did and there was no reason to stick around any of these people? It wasn’t like he had anyone else.

“You messed me up,” Jack told Davey, frowning. “You messed me up real good.”

-

When Jack woke up from a sleep he didn’t know he’d fallen into, Davey was gone. He felt around his cot, but he was alone in it--not only that, but he’d been pushed into a more comfortable position under the blanket. 

He sat up and swung his feet down to the floor, then hurried above deck. Davey was sitting with Kath; he heard Smalls and Sniper shouting somewhere nearby as they played a game together. Crutchie was steering, studying a map with Race.  
Jack hurried to his fairy and his wizard.

Yeah, they were his. Race had been right.

Davey was letting Katherine press a wet rag against his forehead and cheeks, his dark hair slicked back and face flushed. “Does it feel any better?” she was fussing. “I’m sorry I can’t do more…”

“It does help, Kath.” Davey opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Jack. “Hey, the pirate’s awake.”

“He is.” Jack sat next to them. “Now you got two people to fuss over you.”

“Oh, joy.”

“If you had your dust, we could fix you with that,” Katherine noted. “Did they sell it?”

“Yeah, they told me they did.” Davey sighed. “No magic.”

Jack looked at him, sympathetic. “You hurt anywhere else besides your face? Lemme see.”

In daylight, the facial damage was noticeable--Davey’s lip was split, he had nasty black markings around one eye, and his cheek was yellow and grey with a forming bruise. 

Davey offered his hands. “Arms,” he said, revealing the scrapes across his palms and elbows. “From tryin’ to catch myself. And my sides. I don’t think they cracked my ribs or anything, but I’m sure it’s bad. It hurts to breathe.”

Jack felt anger, hot and tight, boiling in his chest. He wanted to _kill_ those bastards. He wanted to pound each and every one of them who had hurt this fairy right into the ground. He didn’t realize he’d been taking his anger out on the thin arm he was still holding until Davey yelped.

Katherine went to work with her iodine on his elbows.

Jack picked up the wet rag and gently grabbed Davey’s chin, turning his head. “Can I try ‘n fix up your lip? Looks like you guys haven’t yet.”

“Yeah, it--it just hurts real bad. Be careful.” 

Jack leaned close to inspect, then glanced up to Davey’s eyes. They were focused on him, still as pretty as he remembered them even with the shiner. When Jack caught his gaze, Davey looked down with eyelashes fluttering.

“I’ll be careful.”

He reached up; Davey squeezed his eyes shut when he began to apply slow pressure to the dried blood. “You okay?” he checked.

Davey sighed through his nose, nodding. “Yeah.”

When all the blood was cleared away, Jack held Davey’s chin tighter and pressed a thumb to an uninjured spot on his lip as he examined the wound.

“What’s the verdict, doctor?” Davey asked. Jack felt his mouth moving under his finger.

“It’s small. It’ll heal fast.” He leaned back and raised his eyebrows. “Just maybe, you’ll live.”

Davey laughed. “I usually do.”

Katherine hugged him tightly. “I’m so glad you’re alright, you know that?”

Davey smiled into her hair. 

“Hey, both of you,” Jack said. They looked up from their embrace, his fairy and his wizard, and he felt a pull in his gut. “I just wanted to say… I’m sorry for getting you into this mess. And thank you for stickin’ by me.”

Katherine leaned over and ran her still-damp hand through Jack’s hair, causing it to stick straight up. “You’re worth following, pirate.”

-

Jack was curled in a fetal position on the deck, holding his stomach and moaning. Davey, who was amused but clearly trying not to be, knelt over him. Seasickness, apparently, was one thing that had not changed.

“Want me to get you something to drink?” Davey asked.

Jack just groaned.

“Come on, deep breaths,” Davey encouraged. Jack hadn’t actually vomited yet but was on the damn verge.

“You sound like I’m giving birth,” Jack grumbled.

“You’re acting like you are,” Davey answered, snorting at Jack’s weak attempt to hit him.  


“Don’t you have anything better to be doing?” Jack asked.

Davey’s smile was smug and annoying and, dammit, Jack thought, pretty. “Nope.”

“I’m serious,” Jack insisted. “I’m tryin’ to spare you, but I--” he broke off, covering his mouth with a hand and going green. He scrabbled to his feet and leant over the side of the ship.

“There it is,” Davey muttered.

Jack went limp over the rail, moaning again.

He heard the sound of Davey’s laughter behind him and whipped around, glaring. “The hell are you laughing about?”

“It’s just funny,” Davey answered. “You’re a pirate who gets seasick. That… doesn’t exactly fit.”

“You think I don’t know that?” 

“Come on,” Davey said, gently nudging him until he finally stood up. “If I had fairy dust, I’d give some to you. All I got right now is an ability to cuddle.”

He sank down against the rail and let Jack lay his head in his lap. “Any better since you got sick?”

“You’re laughing again.”

“I am not!”

“If I puke again I’m gonna aim it, Jacobs.”

Davey just sighed, petting his hair. “I think you’re all bark.”

“Just wait till I bite.”

“I’ve been waiting a damn long time.”

“Remind me why I missed you again?” Jack groaned.

“Because I’m used to your shit and don’t get intimidated anymore?” Davey asked, resting his chin in a hand and looking down at Jack. “Hey,” he said when there was no response, “you took care of me. I’m paying you back.”

Jack sighed into his thigh. “You won’t have to pay me back for much longer,” he murmured. “We’re almost there.”

A strange emptiness filled Davey’s chest. “Yeah,” he answered, swallowing the tightness growing in his chest. “I guess so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!as always leave me a lil comment if u like, say hi on tumblr @livingchancy and if you like this story reblog my post because i like validation: https://livingchancy.tumblr.com/post/171190401892/livingchancy-lovely-bitter-water-newsies-word


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HYELLO. so, important news: this is the second to last chapter! after ch 8 it will be over?? WHAT?? yes it is a short story. also also i have chapter eight nearly done so look out on saturday and sunday because i'm probably gonna post it this weekend! okay enjoy a chapter of storms and sexual tension and our star kath being a star

Jack woke up to a strange poking on his arm and muffled giggling. 

He squinted his eyes open to see his arms and torso covered with small gold coins; Smalls was crouched beside his cot on the floor, holding a bag of the little pieces and holding one up in preparation to add it to the pile she’d made on him. She gasped over her shoulder, “He’s up!”

Spot, Sniper, and Race were there, laughing their heads off. They let it go and laughed even more loudly when they saw that Jack was awake.

Jack groaned. “What the hell?”

“How many’d you get?” Sniper asked, settling at her side.

Smalls looked immensely proud of herself. “Eighty.”

“You owe us eighty gold coins,” Sniper told Jack.

“You sleep like the fuckin’ dead,” Spot added.

Race smacked him. “Language! There is a child!”

Smalls rolled her eyes. “I’m not a fuckin’ child.”

Race looked ready to faint. “You see?” he said, poking Spot in the chest. “You see what you did? You ruined her. You corrupted her. This is all your fault.”

Jack narrowed his eyes and shook off the coins. “You people are impossible. Where are Dave and Kath and Crutchie? At least they’re nice to me.”

Smalls and Spot exchanged a glance. Race grinned. “Don’t say that so fast,” he said. “Your fairy tipped us off to your vulnerable position.”

Jack’s mouth fell open. “He wouldn’t.”

“He came upstairs and was like, ‘Guys, Jack is still asleep so go and see how long you can bug him before he wakes up,’” Spot clarified.

Jack shook his head, laughing in disbelief. “Well. Guess I am having a little talk with my fairy.”

“So he is your fairy?” Race asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Jack stood. “I’ve decided to embrace it.”

-

Crutchie summoned everyone up to the steering wheel later in the afternoon. “My makeshift pirate crew,” he said, “we’re close to our destination.”

“How close?” Kath asked, taking the map from Spot’s hand and examining it.

“Close as in we’ll probably get there by tomorrow afternoon,” Crutchie replied, brightly. “If it’s smooth sailing.”

“Tomorrow?” Davey repeated, stunned. 

Smalls gasped and turned to Katherine. “You’ll get your wizard title tomorrow!”

They all had a round of applause for Kath, who turned red and laughed. 

“I’ll just be glad to get off this damn ship,” Jack muttered. “Maybe my stomach’ll stop turning.”

Crutchie smiled. “I was scared of not bein’ a pirate anymore, but God, it’s great knowing I don’t have to do any of it ever again.”

“Saps,” Spot huffed, throwing one arm around Race, the other around Smalls. “I like being a bandit. It’s what I’m good at.”

He reached out the arm behind Smalls for Sniper, and Sniper grabbed for Kath, who grabbed for Davey, who grabbed for Jack, who grabbed for Crutchie, until they stood huddled together in a circle; the eight of them, their ragtag pirate crew. “Mission nearly accomplished,” Katherine said, looking to Jack. “How do you feel?”

Jack felt the weight of Davey and Crutchie’s arms on his back, listened to the breaths of the people he had surrounded himself with. He grinned. “Like I’m on top of the world.”

“All hands in,” Race said. They put them in, each with different sleeves and skin tones but each other in common. 

For a while they played a game of trying to get their own hand on top of the pile, but eventually Smalls declared, “To us!”

“To us,” everybody echoed, lifting their hands as high as they could.

“First, crystal,” Crutchie said, nodding to Kath.

“And then?” Davey asked.

Crutchie smiled. “And then the rest.”

-

Davey was sitting on the deck, looking at the stars and listening to the sea. He liked this--the feeling of sailing, the sky yawning overhead, a feeling of safety due to the people among him. He liked it, but all he could think was that it wouldn’t last.

Spot and Race were steering, murmuring to each other, probably not even aware Davey was across the darkness of the deck across the ship from them. They were far enough that they were simply black silhouettes against navy blue. 

Davey reached up and touched his healing but still sore face. He thought about Jack’s gentle touch on his lip, staring into space and pressing his own thumb to the wound. 

After everything that’d happened, he was still jumpy, so when he felt a touch on his shoulder he nearly screamed. He grabbed at the arm that had tapped him and whipped around, body tense, only to see Jack himself staring back at him. “Just me,” Jack whispered. “All good.”

Davey let out a long breath. “Don’t scare me like that, pirate.”

“I’ll do what I want, fairy,” Jack replied, giving him a gentle shove. He set down the candle he was carrying on the ground in front of them and sat.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Davey asked, quietly.

“No. Not since you left,” Jack answered, and then looked embarrassed, as if he hadn’t meant to let that slip.

Davey had the decency not to mention it. He’d tried to lay down and sleep beside Jack on the cot (they’d continued sharing it since they set sail) but had done nothing but toss and turn. When he had gone up to get fresh air he’d thought Jack was already asleep.

“So,” Jack said after a pause. “We’re arriving tomorrow. At that… crystal whatever place.”

“Yes,” Davey said, “we are.”

Jack smiled. “I’ll be outta your hair, finally.”

Davey’s eyes hurt in a way that indicated he was about to cry, and the thought of doing so in front of Jack was mortifying. He avoided looking at the pirate, with his fiery eyes and ruffled hair and gold earring, because he knew he’d lose it. “Well. My hair thanks you.”

Speaking of; he pushed his hair out of his eyes, sighing with annoyance when it only fell back down. 

“Oh, that reminds me,” Jack said, reaching into his pocket and revealing Davey’s blue bandana. 

Davey stared, astonished. He thought he’d lost it. “Where’d you--”

Jack leaned over and tied it around Davey’s hair, grinning as he pulled the corner back over his head in the way he liked so much for some reason. “It was on the ground when I… you know, came to after them pirates took off with ya. I thought you might want it.”

Davey reached up and touched it. The threat of tears was back, at the thought of Jack’s first waking thought being to come find him; and of him grabbing his bandana because he was so certain he would. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“‘Course.”

“It’s gonna be weird,” Davey blurted, putting his hand back on the ground. 

“What is?”

“Having you gone.”

Jack was silent for a few long moments; Davey couldn’t meet his eye and instead watched Jack’s hand--as Jack slowly, carefully, quietly reached over and placed it on top of Davey’s.

“I’ll miss you,” Jack said, settling his fingers in the dips of Davey’s knuckles.

Davey didn’t respond with words; just turned his hand over so he could link their fingers together, so they were palm to palm.

They looked at the sky.

“Where do you think everyone’ll go? When there’s no reason for us to be together anymore?” Jack asked.

Davey squeezed his hand. “I s’pose Spot and Race and Smalls will stay together. Sniper will go with them, I bet, since she likes Smalls a lot. Crutchie, he could open some kinda shop in some kinda town like he’s always wanted. And Kath will go home. She’ll be a full wizard.”

“And you?” Jack asked.

Davey looked at Jack. How did he say that he didn’t know? How did he tell Jack that he was a different person than before they’d met, and he didn’t know where he’d go next because the damn pirate was so inescapably part of the new person he was?

He knew how: he scooted closer and leaned his head on Jack’s shoulder.

Jack’s fingers stroked over the back of his hand.

They didn’t say anything about it.

-

Crutchie was below deck sharpening his knife when Jack found him, thankfully alone. “I wanna talk to you,” he said.

Crutchie raised his eyebrows. “Should I be nervous?”

“Nah. It’s just… about feelings ‘n stuff, and you’re good with feelings.”

“I have a lot of ‘em,” Crutchie answered, lowering his knife. 

Jack hopped up onto a stack of crates and sat. “I’m gonna ask you ‘cuz Spot mentioned it and I haven’t been able to get it off my brain and I know you won’t say anything to anyone else--do you think I have a thing for Davey?”

Crutchie made a face like he’d choked on something. “Wait. You guys _aren’t_ together?”

Jack let his head fall into his hands. “I guess that answers my question.”

“No, seriously,” Crutchie said. “I thought… ever since you came here tryin’ to rescue him I assumed you guys were a… an item. A couple. A thing.”

“We ain’t,” Jack answered.

“Yes, I got that.” Crutchie rolled his eyes. He leaned against the wall and blinked at Jack for a few moments, then shook his head, looking mystified. “Jack, lemme tell ya somethin’. When Davey got taken, you dropped everything to come and get him. You don’t do that for a regular buddy, literally _kill_ to get to them and make sure they’s safe. And ever since you found him, you haven’t let him outta your sight.”

“Because I care about him,” Jack insisted. “I’d do the same thing for you, or Kath, or even Spot, for cryin’ out loud. That’s what you do for friends; you save them.”

Crutchie shook his head. “I wasn’t done. You two share a room even though there’s like a hundred rooms on this ship. That ain’t just a friendship, my pal. Tell yourself all you want that it is, and I’m not going and using any big words like love, but you’re carryin’ some kinda torch.”

Jack rubbed his eyes, wracking his brain for further arguments and finding none. He thought about his fairy. He thought about the fire he felt when he shielded Davey from the world and the gentleness of water when he rubbed away the bruises the world had given him. 

So maybe Davey’s eyes were pretty, and maybe his warmth felt just that bit different from everybody else’s when Jack put an arm around him. And maybe Jack would face his fear of heights time and time again if it meant getting to hear Davey’s laugh. That could be fine; the problem was what to do next. He clenched his hands into fists when he realized they were shaking. 

“I’m scared, Crutch,” he whispered. “I’ve never… I ain’t ever felt anything like this before for anyone. It scares me how much I like having him around.”

Crutchie moved across the few feet separating them and braced his arms on Jack’s lap, looking up at him. “I get it,” he said, quietly.

“What I’m really scared of is him not feeling anything scary for me. I’m scared he’ll just leave when Kath can separate us and he’ll be fine and I won’t.”

Crutchie raised his eyebrows in a gently exasperated expression. “Jack, you gotta talk to him.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Well,” Crutchie said, pushing off Jack’s legs and standing up straight again, “for the record, I don’t think you have to worry about him not feeling anything for you.”

“But all this stuff I’m feeling--he doesn’t show it back. He ain’t all protective of me, and he doesn’t make moves or anything. How can you know?”

“People show love in different ways, Jack,” Crutchie replied. “And in case you haven’t noticed, you and Davey are different. Maybe for him, loving you isn’t about chasing you across an island--maybe for him it’s sleeping close to ya even though he likes his space.”

“Love is weird,” Jack muttered.

“It is between you two, that’s for sure. A fairy and a pirate is an unlikely pair if I ever saw one.”

“Spot said the universe don’t make mistakes,” Jack said. “And if it’s kept on pushing at such an unlikely pair, then it’s gotta know what it’s doing.”

Crutchie smiled. “The problem is that you don’t.”

-

Sniper was the one to notice storm clouds in the distance, dark and grumbling. She hurried to Crutchie at the wheel and pointed toward the mass of grey heading for them as Davey and Katherine watched; they’d been reading side by side while keeping Crutchie company. Spot had rolled his eyes at their excitement to find books in the captain’s quarters, but they’d found a new way to pass the time.

“Doesn’t look good,” Sniper said. “And we’re heading right for it.”

Davey put down his book and stood, squinting into the distance.

They all looked to Crutchie, who furrowed his brow in thought. “It doesn’t look too big. Let’s keep going. We can outrun it backwards if it’s that bad, but we oughta be fine. Sniper, Smalls, take down the sails at the back of the ship?” They ran off to do so, and Crutchie turned to Davey and Kath. “You two, take everything on the deck possible down below. The more weight we have on the bottom the better chance we have of not rollin’ over, and plus the deck might get soaked.”

“On it,” Kath answered, and Davey snapped a salute. “Want us to get the others to help?”

“Get Jack’s lazy ass up here. I dunno what Race and Spot are doing, but their help would be appreciated with steering and sails.”

Davey, with the help of Kath, dragged a couple barrels down below deck. He stopped by Jack’s cabin and let himself in; Jack was on his back on the floor, staining his hands using a quill and a little pot of ink. 

“What on earth are you doing?” Davey questioned. 

Jack jumped, then looked at his newly-decorated hand with embarrassment. “Clears my head. What’re you doing barging in on me like that, huh? You could knock.”

“Storm’s coming,” Davey replied, crossing his arms. “Crutchie says get your lazy ass up and help me and Kath carry things down below deck.”

Jack stood and dusted himself off, looking worried. “Is it bad?”

“Crutchie doesn’t think so, but we’re still--” Davey broke off at the sight of a disgruntled Kath appearing from the darkness of the corridor. “Did you find Spot and Race?”

“They’re busy,” she said. “Judging by the sounds coming from their room.”

Davey winced.

Jack coughed and grinned. “As long as they’re having fun?”

“If they drown, that’s their business,” Katherine said. “Come on. Let’s do some more heavy lifting.”

-

By the time they had dragged more crates and cannons down below deck, damp wind rustled the sails and the sun had been blotted out. Davey gave Katherine his bandana, because her hair kept blowing over her mouth.

The sea beneath them felt angry--choppy, unnervingly high waves jostled the boat. Jack, of course, was going pale with the seasickness of the century. Davey remained quietly and stubbornly by his side as Crutchie continued giving them orders. 

When it became clear Jack wasn’t going to be much help, Davey turned to Sniper and Smalls. “Can you guys go and get Spot and Race? Listen, fair warning, they possibly are having sex.”

Smalls rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she said to Sniper, “let’s go crash their party.”

That was when the rain began to pour. And did it pour; like buckets were being dumped onto the pirate ship. Katherine and Crutchie shrieked, and she ran to help him steer. Davey slung an arm around Jack, who looked to have been shocked into temporary wellness by the cold rain, and steered him underneath a small wooden overhang. 

Spot and Race burst up to the surface, both noticeably disheveled but also concerned. “The hell--” Race shouted as he was immediately soaked to the bone, and Spot let out a string of words Davey did not care to repeat.

The waves were getting higher. Crutchie and Katherine had gritted teeth as they yanked on the wheel; Spot ran through the rain to help them, holding a hand above his head as if it would do anything to keep him dry.

Davey didn’t realize Jack had left his side until he heard a whisper behind him. “Dave.”

He turned to see Jack holding open a little trapdoor a ways away, beckoning him closer. The pirate disappeared down into it, and Davey followed.

The space they were in was cramped--a little square of dark space, almost not big enough to fit them both. 

Jack replaced the trap door, sealing their space, and felt through the darkness for Davey. He found him--unfortunately having to place clumsy hands directly on Davey’s mouth to do so, but he was found. “I’m here,” Davey spluttered, flailing his hands right back. “Here, hang on.”

He took out his wings, surrounding them with a blue glow. “This is a little secret storage room,” Jack whispered. “I always used to sneak in here during storms. Safe place, you know?” Above the trap door, wind whistled; Jack reached into the corner and picked up an old, torn sail, tossing it over them both like a blanket.

The boat still rocked and titled; he heard thunder growling, but the world felt miles away. With every lurch, Davey was tossed against Jack, or vice versa, squishing him into the wall. Davey pulled the sail up to his chin.

“You sure we’re safe down here?”

“If water starts getting in, no, we’ll go back up. But from the rain and the lightning we are.” Jack sank down against the wall a bit, slumping closer to Davey until their shoulders were pressed together. “Plus it’s warmer. And I can’t feel the sea so much on my stomach.”

It smelt like salt--partially the sail, partially the water pounding the boat, but either way Davey found it comforting.

“I like the color your wings make,” Jack said in a soft voice.

Davey laughed a little. “Thanks?”

They watched the blue gleam dance across the walls. Davey bit his lip, looking down into his lap and feeling shame curl in his stomach. Jack noticed the sad flash in his eyes. “What’s wrong?” He laughed a little. “We’re gonna live, if that’s what you’re--”

“It’s not that,” Davey interrupted, shaking his head. “I just feel… useless.”

“Hey, hey. Useless how?”

“If I had my magic--my dust--I coulda healed everyone’s wounds no problem. If I had my dust I bet I could do somethin’ to save us from this storm. I just feel like everyone’s always watched out for me and I haven’t been able to do anything in return.” Davey almost, _almost_ brought up the fact that his dust hadn’t even worked to find what Jack had needed, but that wound was still too fresh. “I’m useless.”

“Hey,” Jack said, looking upset, “don’t say that.”

“I am, though, Jack.” Davey turned his head and met Jack’s eyes, sadly. “All I can do for you and the others is fairy stuff, and I’m not even good at it. I lost my dust, I couldn’t find your happiness--what kinda fairy am I, huh?”

“You’re _my_ fairy,” Jack answered firmly, picking up Davey’s hand again, “and no fairy of mine is allowed to put himself down like that. You done plenty right, Davey, just like you done plenty wrong. And I have, too. We’ve all made mistakes. But you mean a hell of a lot to us, fairy dust or not.”

Davey smiled; weakly, but he smiled. “Thanks,” he whispered.

He was getting used to how Jack’s hand felt around his.

He lifted it up to look at it. It was still stained with ink, smudged by the downpour but still there. “How come you did this?” he asked, glancing over to the pirate.

Jack shrugged, looking embarrassed. “It just calms me down sometimes, drawin’ on things, and I don’t have much but myself to do it on.”

Davey spread Jack’s fingers, looking at the dots and diamonds he’d doodled across his knuckles. He noticed a tiny drawing of a ladybug in the curve between index finger and thumb and smirked. “Your soft side’s showing, pirate.”

“I am not soft,” Jack insisted.

Davey sunk down against him, rubbing his cheek against Jack’s shoulder. “Mmm, I think you are.” He laughed suddenly, leaning his head back on the wall behind him and looking up at Jack. “Aren’t we some kinda freakshow? A fairy who can’t do magic and a pirate who can’t kill.”

Jack snorted. “Don’t forget the wizard and the runaway princess.”

Davey shut his eyes and smiled again. “I like our freakshow,” he said, quietly.

Jack bit his lip and sat up a bit straighter. “Davey, listen, I--”

But whatever he was about to say, whether a confession of love or the fact that he didn’t want to be separated from Davey after all, he never got to say it. The trap door thudded open obnoxiously and Smalls poked her head in. “Crutchie says he needs help,” she shouted above the racket of the storm.

Davey pulled the sail slash blanket over his face, and Jack groaned. “We aren’t here.”

Smalls gave them The Spot Look.

Jack put a hand on his heart. “Shit, has he been teaching you that?”

She smiled. “We been practicing. Come on!” She vanished back above deck. Davey helped Jack up and led him out of their little hiding spot, then turned when they were back out in the rain.

With a hand shielding his eyes, he yelled, “What were you saying?”

Jack swallowed the lump in his throat. “It’s not important.”

-

They did, eventually, get out of the thick of the storm. They were all soaked to the bone and shivering like nobody’s business, but the boat was still upright and no one had died.

(These bright sides came from Race.)

Smalls and Sniper tossed down the weights to hold the ship still while everyone dried off and slept. Jack helped Davey and vice versa, ruffling stiff towels through each others’ wet hair. Everybody hung their soaked clothes up near the sail and changed into temporary dry ones. 

Crutchie, Spot, and Jack took down the sail with skull and crossbones on it. “Somehow I don’t think it suits us,” Crutchie had said, “and we got time to kill.”

It was agreed that sometime, Jack would draw a design on a new sail. 

“What suits us?” Race asked.

“Flowers. And fairy wings,” Smalls said, laughing.

Spot wrinkled his nose. “Sissy stuff.”

“Rainbows and butterflies it is,” Jack said. “Just for you, Spot.”

Spot curtsied, then flipped him off.

Crutchie, with convincing from the others, went down to get some sleep along with Sniper, Katherine, and Davey.

Jack went down to his cabin and found his cot occupied. Kath and Davey were each passed out there, her head resting on his stomach and legs curled up. He was on his back, arms spread out at his sides, snoring lightly. Jack couldn’t help laughing as he approached the bed and crossed his arms, gazing down at them.

“Ridiculous,” he muttered. “You two are ridiculous.”

Yeah. He was crazy about them.

-

“Land, ho!” Smalls shouted from the lookout post high up on the mast, pointing.

Katherine squealed and hugged Jack. “We’re here!”

“Your crystal,” he agreed, accepting the embrace. “Excited?”

She let out an ecstatic giggle. “Just a little.”

Davey was talking to Crutchie by the wheel. Jack looked at him and felt his heart sink just a bit. This was it, wasn’t it? Step off this ship and things would be different, forever. This little community they’d created would break apart.

He almost wished for another storm.

Crutchie steered into the little circle of beach making up the cove, and with a lurch they had arrived. Kath and Jack were leant over the rail, feeling the wind. The cove, Jack had to admit, was beautiful--the water untroubled in its shelter of large smooth dark rocks, a perfect semi-circle with waves going into sand so pale it was blinding. There was a cave, he could see, a ways up, and brightly-colored specks dotting the ground.

They hit sand and all cheered; even in his grief, Jack had it in him to be happy for Katherine.

With Jack and Race’s help, Crutchie docked the ship. The sky was endless and blue, wind warm, beach white and vast and empty. Davey exited the ship first, taking out his wings and fluttering gracefully into the sand. Jack followed with a yelp and stumble, Race with a clumsy bounce, Katherine with a tight grip on the rope and careful landing, and so on.

“Here we are,” Davey said, picking up a small orange crystal from the sand. He presented it to Crutchie, who gasped in delight.

Spot whistled, scooping up a handful of the little gems. “These worth anything?”

“Not really,” Davey answered, laughing. “Pretty, though.”

“You could make a pretty necklace with ‘em,” Smalls agreed, blinking at a clear green one.

“So how do you know which is yours?” Jack asked Katherine.

“I just will,” she replied, shrugging. “I bet it’s in the cave up there.”

Jack looked up over the gentle slope of the sand, to a cave made of the same grey rock enclosing the cove. Davey followed Kath; his wings were still out so he flew by her side, hovering above the sand. The clear, sparkly wings glinted behind him in the bright sun.

Spot was by his side, watching him watch Davey. “So,” he said. “You love him?”

“Lots,” Jack replied, and he began to follow in the footsteps his fairy had left.

-

The cave was dark and cool and echoed his every step. He peeked in and saw blue glow radiating from Davey; the ceiling yawned above, and as the whole group treaded toward a light at the end of the tunnel, they held onto each other silently. 

The light, as it turned out, was the jackpot. 

They entered the sectioned-off room that the glisten beckoned them to. It was a new opening, every wall made of crystals that jutted out and sparkled. Jack heard Sniper gasp behind him. 

Katherine held her wand as she ran her hand along the sharp wall, rainbows reflected in her eyes. Davey watched as she pulled a small pink crystal out and pressed it into the small space in the handle of her wand that required it.

The wand flashed, with light bright enough to make them all grimace. In its wake sparks showered down to the floor, illuminating Katherine’s scuffed-up boots. 

“Is it done?” Jack asked, a hand still over his eyes.

She didn’t--couldn’t--respond, turning over the wand in her hands. Her smile was wild.

“Hey, check it out,” Spot whispered, watching the crevices in the wooden wand pulse with magenta light.

Davey fluttered his wings rapidly and held a hand under them to collect the small amount of dust they shed. “Here, let me,” he requested, holding out the empty hand for her wand. She passed it to him, and he gave it a coating of fairy dust. “It’s not much, but… for luck.”

She grinned up at him, breathless. “Thank you.”

Jack sauntered to her and hugged her, tight. “Well, everyone meet the wizard.”

“The _girl_ wizard,” she teased, shoving him away and accepting congratulatory hugs from all the others; Crutchie in particular held on for a good long time.

“We can finally do what we came here for,” Katherine said to Jack and Davey, waving her wand. “You guys ready? I can finally break your bond.”

They glanced at each other. “Uh, yeah,” Jack said, scratching the back of his neck. “Of course. Let’s get on with it.”

She raised her eyebrows at them. “Well, that’s underwhelming.” She laughed. “You can finally go your separate ways, I thought you’d be more… excited.”

“No, yeah,” Jack managed to splutter. “Just… in shock.”

Davey didn’t have words, just nodded with a tight chest. 

His head was stirring, a mess of worry and thought and love for the pirate that he was about to be torn from, and he knew he had to speak now.

So that was how, just as Katherine had lifted and charged her wand in order to accomplish what this entire journey had been about, he stepped in front of Jack and blurted out, “Wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember to look out for ch 8 over the weekend!!  
> usual self promo. rb my tumblr post: https://livingchancy.tumblr.com/post/171440193157/livingchancy-lovely-bitter-water-newsies-word  
> and leave comments! i love em! goodnite!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH here we are the last chapter! it's a mess and a wild ride and theres lots of italics SO ENJOY!!!

“Wait.”

All eyes were on him now. He turned to the pirate standing beside him; the look on Jack’s face was of utter bewilderment. “Dave,” he said, “What--”

“Jack,” Davey cut him off, wings fluttering erratically. He was frantic at the idea of being separated from Jack; it was the last thing he wanted. He had to say what he knew before he lost his chance. “I do know what you need to find happiness. I’ve known all this time.”

Even as he heard murmurs from the others, he couldn’t look away from his boots. The guilt he’d felt for this entire journey spilled out of him, a raging river now that the dam had been flooded. “Love,” he said, in a broken voice. “It’s love you need. I was supposed to find you love, but I failed. There was something wrong with my dust, it didn’t lead me to where--” he broke off and breathed in sharply.

“Davey,” Jack said softly, reaching out for him. 

Davey wiped away the tears that were, humiliatingly, gathering. “This is all my fault. Everything that’s happened. If I was a good fairy, I could have found your love and you’d never have been dragged on this journey with me. I’m so sorry.”

Jack evidently didn’t know what to say. His hand settled on Davey’s arm; his mouth opened, but no sound came out.

“Hey,” Crutchie soothed, coming forward and patting Davey’s back as he sniffed. “You don’t gotta be sorry for anything. You were what brought us all together. And we might not wanna admit it—by we I mean Spot—but I think we all needed to be brought together.”

“Wow,” Spot said, as Race and Smalls laughed. 

“And it’s not like we did all this for nothing,” Kath put in, waving her wand. “Hello? You weren’t the only person on this journey! We accomplished plenty, I’d say.”

“Even so, I’ve been useless this whole time. I got no dust now, and when I did it didn’t even work properly for Jack.”

Race spoke up after a pause, surprising them all. “Maybe it did,” he said carefully.

Davey blinked. “What?”

Katherine’s eyes were suddenly wide. “Davey,” she asked, “what was your dust doing?”

Davey wiped his eyes again. “It wouldn’t move,” he sighed. “I tried to release it so it would lead me to Jack’s true love, and it just stayed in the air between all of us. At first I thought that it must be you, Kath, but now I know it’s not. It’s something wrong with my dust.”

There was a silence long enough to make him look up. Katherine, Spot, Race, Smalls, Crutchie, Sniper--they were all staring at him incredulously.

“What?” he asked.

“Are you actually that stupid?” Spot asked.

Davey blinked at him cluelessly.

“Davey,” Katherine said, grabbing the fairy’s arm. “It’s _you.”_

“Wh--” Davey stammered.

“You’re the love Jack needs,” Kath insisted, shaking him a little. “Your dust was leading Jack to _you_ , you imbecile!”

Davey’s heart pounded. “That’s…”

Spot crossed his arms. “I been saying it the whole time. The world don’t make mistakes—neither does fairy dust. God, you people are impossible.”

Davey hardly heard him, hardly heard Crutchie telling him to mind his manners. He stood, hugging himself, mind racing like a gerbil on a wheel—chasing every rung of thought and getting nowhere.

“That can’t be,” he finally managed to spit out. “That’s not right. It can’t be.”

“It is.” 

That was Jack, speaking up for the first time. 

“It’s always been you,” Jack whispered, almost to himself. 

All of a sudden, the ground rumbled beneath their feet. 

They all grabbed for each other and the walls as they were nearly thrown off balance. No one spoke, all still shellshocked by Jack’s words and, on top of it, unsure what to do. Davey’s whirling brain suddenly clicked into motion. “Trolls,” he breathed. “Oh, shit, I forgot--”

“Trolls?” Spot repeated, incredulous, as the ground jolted again. A few crystals clinked to the floor, dislodged from their spots above and around.

“Trolls guard the crystals,” Davey hissed, grabbing Katherine’s hand. “We gotta split. Now.”

When they took off running, dust was falling from the ceiling of the cave due to the immense shaking. Davey, at the head of the group, skidded to a halt before he hit a solid wall of darkness that hadn’t been there before. “They blocked the way we came in,” he gasped.

Sniper looked at all the different tunnels sprouting from where they were, panicking. “Which way do we go then?”

Davey looked around all of them; his wings were still out, casting their cheeks in a blue sheen. Crutchie paused to listen. “The most sounds are coming from the left.”

“So we go right,” Davey amended, taking frantic flight down one of the many pathways laid out before them. 

“What if it’s a dead end?” Spot shouted up to him.

“Then we’ll figure it out,” Davey snapped back, hooking a sharp right and grabbing Jack’s arm to keep him from running into the wall. “None of you wanna know what trolls are capable of, believe me. Keep runnin’.”

“Fuck,” Katherine hissed, stopping in the wake of a wall at the end of a tunnel. “Dead end.”

“Now what?” Race asked.

“Now we go back the way we came and try again,” Davey answered, but his words were drowned out by a noise like thunder, different than the ones before. It was distant but growing louder, moving toward them fast. Jack whipped out his sword, pushed Davey behind him, and faced the corner they’d come around. It was not the enemy they were expecting, though.

A massive wall of water came around the corner through the tunnel, white-capped with how fast it was moving. It headed straight for them, rapidly enough that they didn’t have time to do anything but scream before it swept them all off their feet, broke through the dead end they’d reached, and went shooting through the new uncovered tunnels with a grip still on them.

“Fuck!” Spot echoed Kath’s sentiment when his head broke the surface. “What the _fuck?”_

“Trolls control elements,” Davey shrieked back, scrabbling for a grip and of course finding none. “We’re lucky they didn’t use fire.”

“What do we do?” Jack screamed. The river still carried them far too quickly for comfort into the unknown. 

Davey was unable to answer--his head was on loop between _I literally can’t swim_ and _This is all completely my fault why do I get these people into such awful situations?_

The screeching around him got louder as the water plummeted further downhill and sent them falling into a dungeon-like pit. Each one of them hit the ground hard, water pouring down on their heads and pooling around them. 

Katherine let her head fall onto the ground, panting, clearly relieved just to be out of that. Davey tried to stand and fell again--his limbs were like jello. He tried again, because they had to act fast. Surely they were coming.

“We have to--” he gasped, catching himself on still-scraped palms and remaining on his hands and knees, wide-eyed. 

“How many fucking tunnels are there in this place?” Spot spluttered, looking at the new fork in the road of four dark hallways.

“That’s it,” Davey muttered. “We need to split up and hide. Everyone go down different tunnels and find rubble or somethin’ to hide behind. Our only hope is not getting found.”

Spot grabbed Race and took him down one tunnel; Kath and Crutchie went together, as did Smalls and Sniper.

Davey didn’t want to look at who he knew he was going to hide with. He grabbed Jack Kelly’s hand, though, and used it to pull himself up. “You okay?” Jack whispered as they stumbled down the final tunnel and found a dip to conceal themselves somewhat in.

“I guess?”

Jack touched Davey’s hair and then went silent when a thud reverberated through the room. “Find them,” boomed a rough voice, and the sound of heavy footsteps echoed.

Davey caught a whiff of the air, then, and looked to Jack in panic. Fire.

“Knock on wood,” he breathed. They were going to get smoked out. The shame returned to him, lurid and red. This was all his fault for forgetting all about the trolls, for pouring out his angst on everyone, for dragging them into messes like this to begin with. His clothes stuck to him, heavy and wet.

The air between them was beginning to shimmer. He pressed his face into Jack’s shoulder to stifle coughs. They were going to get caught, possibly killed, at the end of this all, and it was his fault.

Orange flashed from down the corridor he and Jack had taken.

He had to fix this.

The troll’s voices grew louder. He shut his eyes, hard, because being confronted by his surroundings just made his head spin. _Think, Jacobs. Don’t just grieve about not having your dust, think. What_ do _you have?_

He had himself. That was all he had. 

He started to get up.

Jack grabbed for him. “What the hell are you doing?” he hissed.

Davey couldn’t look at him. “Distracting them. Get out with the others.”

 _“What?”_ Jack dug his nails into his arm, until Davey’s gaze had to meet his. “Are you insane? I’m not leaving you here!”

Davey shook his head, pulling himself free. “It’s what I deserve after how little I’ve helped you.”

“I’m not letting you--”

Davey cut him off. “I have to.”

“Please,” Jack breathed, shaking his head, and Davey couldn’t tell if the streaks of wet on his cheeks were tears or river water. “There’s something else we can do. I need you, fairy.”

The smoke was making him dizzy. He felt ready to start sobbing, sick with fear of whatever may happen, and something… else. The idea of leaving this pirate-- _his_ pirate--forever, he couldn’t stand it.

Davey dropped back to his knees, grabbed Jack’s face, and kissed him on the mouth.

It was gentle and hesitant, a brush of their lips, lighting sparks in his gut. He had no chance to revel in it. “I have to,” he repeated when he’d pulled back, watching Jack blink at him through shocked eyes.

When he began to stand, Jack pulled him down and kissed him again, hard. “Please don’t go,” he pleaded, but he was already loosening his grip. Davey smiled at him weakly, eyes watering from the suffocating heat and from that something else he felt for the ragtag kid in front of him. 

“I’ll see you,” Davey whispered.

One last kiss, instigated by him this time, and he was moving. Outside of he and Jack’s little corner, fire was everywhere; it licked up the walls and clung to moss scattered on the ceilings. He couldn’t feel the pain from it, though, even as he got too close a few times.

“Hey!” Davey shouted into the smog. The trolls, made of rock and lichen and shaped vaguely like humans, whipped toward him.

Davey took out his wings and flew. Up through the hole they’d dropped into the cavern from, over the little rivulets left, away from the people he knew he had to save.

“Get him!” he heard the trolls chanting, charging down the corridors after him. He flew faster than he ever had before, grimacing with the effort of hauling the weight of his soaked clothes. Dust shimmered and fell off of him, but he persisted, even when he was certain he couldn’t. He knew where he had to get to.

He found it. Davey stopped and dropped back down onto his feet by the rubble blocking the exit of the cave and began to dig. No dust, no magic, no luck on his side--just his burnt hands and a desperate fire to save his friends and the pirate he so deeply loved.

There was no give. He thudded his fist against it, letting out ragged growls of frustration, and dropped to his knees.

He coughed and panted and felt water dripping out of his hair and it was impossible, there was no way he could possibly stand and run anymore but he thought of giving the others a chance to escape and he got the hell up.

He staggered to the glowing room where they’d found Katherine’s crystal, shouting out nonsense to attract the trolls to him. They took the bait and appeared in the cramped room. 

Davey backed away to the wall. “Are you the one who stole our crystals?” one of the beasts rumbled at him.

“Yes,” he gasped, clutching his pounding heart. 

“You have no right!” shouted the same troll, and boy, had he had plenty of villains tell him off for stealing. He was tired of it. Before he could move there was a knife at his throat.

He thought of everything. Of meeting Jack, of kissing Jack, of never getting to kiss him again. He hated himself for not having done it sooner, for not having realized that he was what Jack needed for happiness. 

And now he was taking that happiness away by leaving.

The knife was cold. He couldn’t get Jack’s pleading eyes out of his head, the taste of salt.

“Just do it,” he pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut.

There was a pause. 

And then--

“The hell you will,” a voice growled, and before Davey opened his eyes he heard the knife clattering to the floor.

He dared squint his eyes back open.

Katherine stood in the entrance to the room of crystals, holding her wand, cheeks stained with soot and skirt ripped. “Davey,” she breathed, limping to him and squeezing him tight enough to make him wheeze. 

“Davey!” she shouted it this time, shaking him, and he could do nothing but let out a little shocked sob into her shoulder. “Are you out of your mind or what?” She laughed a little, suddenly, and rubbed his back. “What were you thinking? Are you okay?”

“You know, considering the circumstances, relatively,” he admitted, wiping his teary eyes. “What did you--”

“A shrinking spell,” Katherine answered, looking at the floor. “They’re down there somewhere.”

“Did the others get out?” he asked, almost panicked.

She grabbed both his hands. “Yes. Thanks to you. Jack told us all what you did, and--I had to come find you. I used magic to get us up out of where we fell into, and they broke down that wall over the entrance with swords.” She surged forward, hugged him again. “God, I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought it might be too late.”

“I wanted to make up for--” he started, but he was trembling too hard to finish his sentence.

She put her arm around him. “Shhh. I know. Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

The sunlight and soft sand felt like a fever dream. He went blind for a second in the sudden wash of white, glaring light after so much darkness. It was late afternoon--the sun hung low and fierce in the sky.

“Jack said they were gonna get back on the ship, just to be safe,” Kath explained, still supporting his weight as they began the trek.

Davey laughed a little. “Some wizard ceremony, huh?”

She rubbed up and down on his shoulder. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He used his wings one last time to board the ship, swaying on his feet while Katherine climbed up. He heard shouting, suddenly; Smalls yelling, “They’re back!” and throwing her arms around Davey.

He gave a punched-out laugh and hugged her back. “Yeah, they are.”

“And they’re here to stay,” Katherine added, gently nudging Davey’s shin with her foot. “You thought you could slip outta this world just like that? We’re holding onto you.”

Jack appeared, wild-eyed. “Davey?” he shouted, flying across the deck and into Davey’s arms with nearly enough force to knock him over. Davey let it happen, let his knees buckle like they’d wanted to since he’d had that knife on him. They went tumbling down to the wooden ground.

Jack, clearly unbothered by the change in position, just settled on top of him and began to cover his face in kisses. He was letting out relieved little sentence fragments, breaths catching in between. Davey started laughing, flailing and trying to push Jack off like he was an excited dog. “Cut it out!”

“Never. I ain’t fucking never letting you stand up again,” Jack answered, putting his hands on Davey’s cheeks and giving him one last kiss on each one before pulling back. “How could you be so stupid?” he asked, anger poorly masking his relief. “I thought you was… I thought I might never… I…”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Davey said, and he was. “I don’t wanna stand up ever again. Keep me here.”

But he couldn’t, because Spot and Race and Sniper and Crutchie were back and all had equal need to grab him and shake him and cry into his shoulder. 

Even Spot gave him a tight hug and said, “You scared the hell outta me. We need you around, hey?” When he pulled back, he looked between Jack and Davey. “And can we pick up where we left off here, please?”

Jack grinned and took a step toward Davey. “Fairy.”

“Pirate,” Davey replied accordingly, taking his own step closer.

“So.”

“My dust led you to me.”

“Does your dust make mistakes?”

Davey smiled. “No. And neither does the world. It knew.”

“Doesn’t mean you two didn’t take your sweet time knowing,” Race muttered. Spot smirked in agreement.

“Let’s be serious and ignore them,” Jack said.

“Right,” Davey replied, standing up straighter. “Serious.”

They met each others’ eyes and started to giggle.

“Serious!” Jack insisted, pushing him in the shoulder.

Davey laughed, out loud this time. “Come here and I’ll show you serious,” he taunted, and he wasn’t ready for the repercussions--Jack came there all right, surging forward and kissing him like he needed it to survive, and honestly maybe he did. Davey adjusted, grabbing at Jack’s shoulder blades and pulling him down, pushing back and forth, taking as much as he gave. 

He was faintly aware of the whistles and shouts from the others scattered around them, but Davey only had eyes for Jack when they finally pulled back.

“Fairy dust,” he whispered to the pirate, slightly winded, “it’s powerful stuff.”

Jack grinned at him. “It wasn’t love I needed, you know. It was you.”

Davey scrambled to kiss Jack again, partly because he didn’t want to see how much those words had made him blush and partly because he had waited for too long. It was easier this time. 

“Well,” Katherine said, and they both turned to her. Davey let his hands fall from Jack’s cheeks and instead rest on his chest. She was holding her wand, smiling. “There’s no bond between you anymore to break. You’ve found what you need. Davey, I guess you can move on now, huh?”

Davey looked at Jack, this pirate, with wild eyes and careful hands and dreams the world hadn’t been able to crush. There was a scrape on his cheek, and Davey knew--he knew Jack Kelly better than he’d ever even wanted to know anyone else. 

As lame as it was, he felt his heart honest to God flutter. Their clothes were still wet and he was stained with soot and his palms were scraped and he was scandalously in--well. Love was a scary word, but he was neck-deep in something that made him feel warm all over.

Davey smiled at Katherine. “I think I’m gonna stick around a while.”

-

Jack fussed over Davey, because of course he did. He got dry clothes and cleaned the scrapes on his palms and wrapped him in a blanket. “Jack, do you realize I’m alive?” Davey asked as Jack wrapped his arms around him and refused to let go.

“Not yet. I need it to sink in.”

Crutchie sat with them, on the deck of the docked ship, and one by one everyone else joined them.

“We should talk,” Crutchie said.

“About what?” Spot questioned.

“What happens now,” Crutchie replied. “Do we split?”

Smalls frowned. “I don’t wanna split.”

“Well,” Katherine said, “we still have a pirate ship. It’s ours. We can do whatever the hell we want.” She looked at Race and Spot. “You two still wanna live as bandits?”

“Not especially,” Race admitted. “Especially not if we got a whole pirate ship to stay on.”

Spot looked flustered. “I didn’t know we was welcome to stay.”

“Of course you are,” Crutchie said. “You helped score it.”

“But I don’t wanna be pirates,” Jack said, looking up from where he was still covering Davey in kisses. He had taken blanket-wrapped fairy into his lap, and Davey had just let it happen. “We may have a pirate ship but we ain’t evil.”

“No,” Katherine agreed. “We won’t. We can use it for good, can’t we?”

Crutchie looked at her. “Don’t you have someone waiting for you at home?”

Kath smiled. “Maybe we could pick her up and bring her with us.”

“I’ve still gotta do my fairy thing,” Davey inputted. He’d been sitting on Jack like a cat, not asleep but so exhausted that his eyes were rolling back in his head. He blinked them open. “I mean, go ‘n visit and then find people their happiness and run errands and all that.”

“You can always come back,” Jack said, with a smile.

Davey kissed him gently on the cheek. “Of course I will.”

“You two are disgusting,” Spot said. “Hey, we could recruit people who got nowhere to go. You know, like Jack’s crew found him, only we give them a safe place? Youngsters and things.”

“And how will we get supplies?” Sniper asked, holding Smalls’s hand. “Keep the show runnin’?”

Jack grinned at Crutchie. “I guess you can live your dream of trading, huh?”

Crutchie’s eyes lit up. 

Race was nodding. “Hey, yeah. We can collect things and go around trading and giving people a safe place. The first good pirate grew, how’s that sound?”

“Do I get seashells?” Crutchie asked, leaning close to Jack.

Jack laughed, throwing an arm around him. “You’ll get all the seashells you could ever dream of.”

Davey looked at Katherine, then reached out for her hand. She put hers in his. “You in, wizard?”

She smiled. “For the long haul.”

-

Davey was asleep in bed when Jack came down to his cabin, after a while of discussing more of the future with Spot and Crutchie.

“Hullo,” Jack whispered, not expecting a response and not getting one. He crawled in next to him and that finally made the fairy stir--he groaned and pushed himself closer. Jack wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in close, rubbing at his back like he now knew he liked.

“I missed you,” Davey mumbled into his neck.

“When?” Jack asked, confused.

“Before I met you.”

“Sap.”

“I love the universe for giving me you.”

Jack kissed him on the forehead, grinning. “You sound delirious. Go to sleep.”

-

Katherine approached Jack in the morning. They were sailing back toward Katherine’s village, on a quest to get her special someone, and then--well, then the real adventure would begin.

She leaned against the railing beside him, hair blowing in the wind. “Feeling seasick today?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Too happy.”

Because he was. He couldn’t think of anything but how happy he was when he looked around his pirate ship.

Davey was sitting by Crutchie on the ground, helping him weave flowers around his crutches. He used what little magic he could get from his wings to perfect the decorations, and Crutchie’s face was glowing as he tied stem after stem together.

Smalls and Sniper were perched together on the lookout mast, way up high in a way that made Spot exceptionally nervous. Every once in a while, laughter floated down from their little spot up in the clouds. 

Spot was the one steering the ship with Race keeping him company at the wheel. And here were Jack and Katherine. “Mission accomplished,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “For both of us.”

Jack thought of the people around him, thought of his fairy cuddled up against his chest, thought of the happiness he’d found, and his response wasn’t words--it was a smile, coming from the deepest darkest spot within him, working its way up until he felt like he was filled with fairy dust. He felt ready to fly, fear of heights be damned. 

They’d live their dreams. They’d have each other. They’d help other kids who needed somebody. They’d be what they wanted to be.

And so, they all lived happily ever after.

(For now.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow that's a lot. so yeah! this fic is over! wow! i always intended for it to be kinda short but still sad to see it go :'(  
> if anyones interested, im always willin to talk more about headcanons and things i have for this universe!! i planned it TOO EXTENSIVELY so if u wanna let me geek out i Will. also let me know if you would want like oneshots set in this universe?? who knwos!  
> as always. rb my post: https://livingchancy.tumblr.com/post/171513546432/livingchancy-lovely-bitter-water-newsies-word  
> (and shoutout to the oh hellos for inspiring this title and also giving me music to listen to to get into the Medieval Mood.)  
> goodnite!! <333


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